JIA Case Files 2: Boulevard of Las Vegas
by Istoria
Summary: *COMPLETE 11/08* Sequel to Streets of Tokyo. AU/Modern Day. It might be Sano’s dream city but it’s about to turn into paradise lost as old villains, faces from the past and a new allies come on to the stage. It’s Kenshin-gumi… Vegas style.
1. Chapter 1

Boulevards of Las Vegas : Chapter 1

"…Meiji Era design. The blade was replaced but the hilt is still authentic, that it is."

Kenshin stood at the counter of the Tama Street Antique Sword store, carefully relating the history of the sword. The customer held it up, letting the blade catch in the light. He shot a look over at the red-haired salesman who was smiling at him. 

"Do you have certificate of authenticity?" he asked.

Kenshin nodded. "Of course. All you need is…"

His voice got drowned out by the noise outside. The customer whipped around, looking outside with a panicked expression. Windows rattled slightly, the sword in his hand wavered.

"…and the manager will oversee the final transaction," Kenshin finished.

The customer looked over with surprise. It was like Kenshin had neither seen nor heard anything at all. The customer carefully put down the sword.

"Ah… can you say that again?"

"Of course," Kenshin said with a smile. "All the paperwork is with the manager…"

The windows began to rattle again and the noise was completely overpowering. The customer jumped to the ground and held his hands on top of his head. It was like the world was ending.

"…oversee the final trans… oro?" Kenshin paused and leaned over the counter, looking down at the ground. "Are you all right?"

The customer let go of his head and looked up at Kenshin with a mixture of confusion and surprise. Was he the only one that experienced the near earth shattering experience?

"I'm sorry but," the customer started. "But do you feel all the shaking and…"

The rest of his sentence got drowned out as the noise returned. And looking up, all the customer could see was Kenshin's smile.

***

"KAMIYA-SAN!!!!"

The man screamed, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the seat. His face was etched with fear and his voice screamed out again, desperately trying to get the attention of the woman next to him.

Kaoru frowned and pitched the helicopter forward again. It moved downwards, flying just over the rooftops of the buildings in the merchant district. Below her, Kaoru could still see the car, swishing through traffic.

Kamiya. Report! the radio crackled.

"In pursuit of suspect," Kaoru said, suddenly banking left to follow the suspect. "Now traveling down west on Tama Street…"

The man next to her screamed as the building in front of them suddenly shot upward. Kaoru pushed the stick to her left veering away from the building and lowering down into the street.

Kaoru's face locked up with determination. "We're going to drive him to the side street, over."

Roger that. Back up is on the way.

"No, no, this is a very… bad… IDEA!!" the man cried.

The helicopter shot forward and passed by the suspect's car. As soon as she was far ahead enough, she turned the helicopter 180 degrees and turned to face the car. She got a quick glimpse of the suspect's face before the terrified man suddenly turned down a side street.

As soon as he broke back onto the main road, the suspect found himself being pursued by a flurry of police cars and one helicopter pilot. He drove through the main street and pulled off into the suburban part of town. 

Now, without any other civilian cars to worry about, Kaoru made her approach. The man next to her gave out one final terrified protest before falling silent. The bottom of the helicopter came forward, slightly grazing the top of the car. The car swerved and Kaoru tried again, pushing the throttle forward and give the car a push towards a nearby tree. She pulled to the side, nearly hitting the tree herself but managing to pull away and find an empty patch of road to land the helicopter. 

Behind her, the police cars came to a screeching halt, as the suspect jumped out of his car and started to run. Officers jumped out of their vehicles and began to pursue him, cutting through the backyards.

The suspect began to think he might just make it now that he lost that crazy chick in the helicopter. But suddenly he came to face with something far more frightening. A snarling dog. The suspect came to a screeching halt but the dog leapt forward, jumping on him and pinning him to the ground.

"Right on, Notarou!" Sano said, coming up behind the dog, his crisp blue uniform swishing as he did. A large patch on his arm distinguished him as a member of a special Tokyo PD branch… the K9 unit. The dog turned and looked up at the trainer. Before Sano could move, he was glomped by the Notarou.

"Not me you idiot!!" Sano cried, trying to push the dog off. Luckily by then the other officers had arrived and were arresting the suspect. After several minutes of struggling, Sano finally managed to stand, walking back towards the rest of the police cars with Notarou following closely behind.

"Sano!" Kaoru called waving from next to the helicopter. Sano waved and walked over, shuffling his feet as he did.

"Oi, jou-chan, nice move," he said.

"You too," Kaoru said with a smile. "Not a bad run for your first real shot at the action, ne?" She knelt down and looked at Notarou. "And how's your… partner?" she said with a smile, as she petted the dog.

"Better than yours," Sano said, motioning to the passed out co-pilot.

Kaoru frowned as she saw the figure slumped in the copilot's seat. This was the third time this month! Tokyo PD needed to send her stronger people because none of them lasted after the first pursuit. Of course, she wasn't sure there were any pilots left at this point. 

"Didn't Megumi say you shouldn't be doing things like this anymore?" Sano asked.

Kaoru shot him a look. "She said I shouldn't do anything that would cause me stress. Sitting at a desk all day… that was causing me stress. This is just fun," She said with a smile, seeing her fellow officers shoving the suspect into the back of the car as he yelled about lunatic helicopters and possessed dogs.

"Right," Sano said with a shrug.

"So, you're still up for celebrating tonight?" she asked.

Sano smiled. "The chance to have other people pay for my drinks is all the motivation I'll need."

"Who said we were paying for you?" Kaoru asked.

"Hey! It's my god damn party," Sano said, backing off when he saw the smile spreading on Kaoru's face.

"So you want a lift back to the station?" she asked, pointing a finger at the helicopter.

Sano looked at her strangely. "Jou-chan… I may not be smart, but I'm sure as hell not stupid enough to get in a helicopter with you."

***

Kaoru clung onto Megumi's arm as she laughed and pulled her friend into the crowd. Megumi could only sigh at the younger girl's exuberance and wonder if another lecture about over-activity would be in order.

Not that Kaoru would even listen. Since being given approval from her doctors a few weeks ago, Kaoru was determined to get readjusted to her old life. That meant no more desk work, no more quiet nights at home… sigh, Megumi missed those already. And from what she was hearing from her friends at the precinct, Kaoru's wild streak was getting worse. She had managed to go through three partners in one week.

"Come on Megumi," Kaoru whined slightly, dancing around to get her attention.

"Kaoru," Megumi said, "just wait a minute. I need to talk to you about something."

Kaoru stopped and looked up her. "What is it?" she asked grimly, knowing the look Megumi had when she was about to say something serious.

From over on the other side, Kenshin watched as the two women stopped dancing and began talking. He turned to ask Sano what he thought but saw the man was already enjoying the free liquor that he was getting from the rest of the group.

Kenshin smiled slightly, still trying to get used to the idea of Sano as a police officer… a K9 police officer. But then Kaoru had pretty much given him the option of studying at the academy to become an officer or janitor at the precinct. And the only thing Sano hated worse than working for the law was cleaning. 

Of course the academy had taken one look at him and stuck him as the training dummy for the K9 units while he was studying there. Well, that was before Notarou showed up. The stubborn dog didn't take to anyone except Sano. So they decided that he would just have to study to be a K9 specialist.

Which was why they were out celebrating. A few months short of graduating, Sano was already enjoying work in the field as part of his training. This was the end of his first day and what better way to celebrate it then with friends at a local club.

Suddenly there was a shriek in the crowd and Kenshin stood up, followed by a wobbling Sano. In the middle of the dance floor, Kaoru was clapping her hands excitedly as she nodded frantically.

Megumi seemed to be trying to say something more but gave up and with a motion over to the table, sent them both back to the men.

"What's the matter?" Sano asked as they sat down.

"Megumi has a medical conference in the United States and said I could go along to help," Kaoru smiled.

"That should be nice," Kenshin said with a smile.

"Where in the States?" Sano managed to get out.

"Las Vegas," Kaoru said with a smile. "How much fun does that sound…"

"Wait, wait, wait," Sano said waving his arms. "Did you say Las Vegas?"

"Yes," Kaoru said.

"Gambling capital of the world?"

"Ah… yeah, I guess…"

Sano's attention flicked away from Kaoru to Megumi. "Let me go instead. I'll do much better work than jou-chan ever will."

"HEY!" Kaoru cried, looking over angrily at the other man.

"I can carry more things than her too," Sano said, frighteningly sober suddenly.

But Megumi wasn't impressed. "Please, you think I don't know you well enough to not know you would spend the entire time drinking, gambling and ogling the show girls?"

"Ha," Kaoru responded, looking over at Sano.

"Besides," Megumi said, "Kaoru will be less of a financial drain then you."

"Yeah… wait a minute," Kaoru said. "What do you mean, financial drain?"

"Well, you don't gamble because your luck is atrocious," Megumi said, "and all it takes is one drink for you to be passed out."

Sano laughed and Kaoru shot Megumi an angry look. "I'll have you know that I am a very good gambler and I can hold my liquor."

Megumi raised an eyebrow. "Really? I seem to remember a certain night on a beach outside of Tokyo where a rather inebriated…"

Kaoru jumped up and shook her head feverishly. "Megumi! You promised not to ever mention that again."

"Don't get angry, jou-chan," Sano said, pulling her back into her seat. "Now what was this about a beach?"

"NO!" Kaoru cried, hitting Sano lightly in the arm.

Megumi sighed. "Really now, between the two of you, I think I'd rather take Ken-san with me instead."

Kenshin cringed, having a bad feeling about what coming next. There were only about two seconds before Kaoru and Sano started in again, further inflamed by Megumi's suggestion that she take Kenshin.

He watched them fight and tried not to smile. Even if Sano did yell a lot more lately, the two girls were definitely a good influence on the two of them. The ex-gangster and the ex-street thug had really come about full circle. Both were in respectable jobs, both were making a steady income and actually helping to keep up the Kamiya household. 

If someone had told him a year ago that this is what his life would become, Kenshin would have laughed at the idea. But things had changed. A lot. Looking over at Kaoru laughing over something Megumi had just said to Sano, he knew things had changed for the better.

Still, it looked like the situation was rapidly degenerating. He should probably step in but… Las Vegas sounded nice. A vacation sounded nice. Especially after the manager at the store came back and had a heart to heart discussion about Kenshin's selling manner and his girlfriend's antics.

Which is when Kenshin had to explain that the noise didn't really bother him that much and that the pilot wasn't his girlfriend, just his landlady (since that seemed the simplest explanation for it all). 

And the manager had said while the appreciate the crime free streets, the weekly runs by a helicopter down the street was just not good for business and could Kenshin please do something about it since the pilot was his girlfriend. 

Then Kenshin had tried to explain again but… it was hard to argue when Kaoru had a habit of running into the store everyday, her helmet still with her and relating the story of how she caught the latest bad guy. 

"Megumi-san," Kenshin asked, finally breaking into the conversation.

"Yes?" she said, glad from a momentary break from the argument.

"How are you getting to Las Vegas?"

"ANA, of course," she said with a smile. "And first class to boot…" Megumi trailed off, seeing the look on Kenshin's face. She shook her head feverishly. "But it's… first class," she said firmly.

***

"It was first class," Megumi lamented as she sat down in the middle of the aisle in economy.

"But this way," Kaoru said, taking a seat next to her, "we can all go. And we can trade your suite at the Bellagio for two rooms." That didn't help Megumi's mood one bit. 

Sano sat next to her suddenly and reached out hesitantly for his belt. "What's wrong with you?" Megumi asked.

Sano shook his head. "I just… don't like flying."

"What?"

"The whole idea of it! I mean, what's keeping the plane in the air??"

Megumi sighed. "Didn't you ever pay attention in high school physics?"

"I never made it to high school physics," he replied.

"Come on Sano," Kaoru said, reaching over and poking his arm. "There's no reason to be afraid. Flying in an airplane is just like flying in a helicopter!"

Sano's only response to that was a glare that said 'how many partners did you loose this week?' Sano clicked the belt into place and began to look up and down the aisle. "Don't we get free drinks with this flight?" he asked.

"We would," Megumi said bitterly, "if we were in first class."

"Maa maa," Kenshin said, sitting down next to Kaoru. "It'll be fine. We'll fall asleep before we're even halfway there."

***

Six hours later…

"Red!" Sano called.

Megumi pulled a card from the top of the deck and yawned. "Black," she said, flipping the card over. "I think your luck is worse then Kaoru's." She shot a look over at the other girl but Kaoru was curled up in her seat, earphones in her ears and hands at her mouth while she watched the film on the screen in front her.

"Try it again," Sano said, trying to shake the sleep from his eyes.

Megumi held the pack of cards in her hand. "Shouldn't you try something a bit… I don't know… more likely to be found in Vegas?"

"What?" Sano said. "But this is what I play all the time."

"Probably why you always lose," Megumi said. "What about Poker, Blackjack?"

"Those are gaijin games," he replied.

"And we're going to gaijin casinos," Megumi replied. "So do you want to learn or not?" Sano looked at her and nodded. Megumi took the cards in her hand, split the deck and shuffled them quickly. "Black jack it is," she said before spouting of the rules of the game while she dealt the cards at blazing speed.

From the end of the row, Kenshin stood up and stretched his legs. Long plane rides never suited him. The last one he had taken was for a job when he was still the Hiten assassin but that was a memory he was all too happy to bury away again.

He walked down the aisle, letting the blood flow back into his legs. He looked up and saw the curtain for first class had opened slightly. He smiled, glad that Megumi couldn't look in and see what was going on. 

Suddenly the curtain flung open and a stewardess walked out. Before she had the chance to close it, Kenshin got a good look inside. Something caught his eye and he shook his head as the stewardess closed the curtain. No… it couldn't have been.

Kenshin walked forward, trying to peek behind the curtain. He could have sworn that he saw someone familiar in there. But… but, they couldn't be here.

"Can I help you sir?"

Kenshin turned around to the stewardess and shook his head. "No, I'm just stretching my legs," he said before turning around and walking back. His mind replayed the scene a few times before he decided that it must have his imagination.

Reaching the aisle, he saw that sleep had finally taken over at least one of them. Megumi and Sano were enthralled in the mechanics of Blackjack but Kaoru had finally nodded off to the movie. He leaned down and pulled the blanket back on top of Kaoru before taking his seat. But unlike her, sleep eluded him as his mind was plagued with doubt.

***

Misao hung quietly from the ceiling, her gloved fingers typing away feverishly at the keyboard but not making a sound. The rope holding her legs was taunt and barely moved as she worked.

How's it going? a voice crackled through the headset.

"Fine," Misao whispered. "I feel like I'm in a bad Mission Impossible movie though."

Just keep going, security hasn't found us yet.

Misao sighed. That was her partner. All business, no fun. Not even a little laugh at her joke. When she got home to Tokyo, she was going to have a long talk with Kaoru and find out if he was like this with all his partners.

The computer whined and Misao smiled. Computer virus… implanted. She pulled the disk from the slot and signaled to Aoshi to pull. A few seconds later, she and Aoshi had crawled out of the air conditioning ducts, stripped off the black body suits to reveal the two business suits underneath and walked out of the building.

As soon as they had climbed into the car, Misao sighed. "That was too easy," she said.

"You should be glad we had no problems," Aoshi said as he turned the key in the ignition.

Misao waved him off and pulled out her cell phone. "Job's done," she said as soon as they picked up.

"Good job," Okina said. There was a pause. "We're going to send you on the next mission right away."

Misao's eyes perked up. "Something happened?"

There was a pause. "Yes…"

"Is everyone alright?" Aoshi suddenly asked, unable to hear the conversation. Misao just nodded as she listened to Okina relate the information. The moment she hung up, Aoshi was looking at her for an answer.

"There was a jail break," she said. "Yumi escaped and they can't find her. They think she's already fled the country."

"Where would she go?" Aoshi asked.

"Well… most of her contacts were in Japan but…" she trailed off.

"But what?" Aoshi demanded.

"The Juppongatana yakuza had a few connections internationally. She probably fled to one of the other Mafia families…"

"China?" Aoshi asked. But Misao shook her head. "Italy?" But he was wrong again. He looked at her and suddenly realized why she was being evasive.

The tires screeched as the car made a U-turn in the middle of the street to head towards the Kyoto airport. Yumi had not fled to the Chinese triad or the Italian families, but the child of all the Mafia organizations. The American mob. The gangster organization that had found a perfect home in the city of Las Vegas, the same city Kaoru had told him that she and the others were going away for vacation to.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Crystal Method CD... found (Tweekend folks... consider it the ST to this story). Next chapter of story done. Ummm... yeah this one is a bit strange. It took me forever to find the names of one person in particular but one site had excellent coverages of all characters: http://www.sitepros.net/kenshin/ Great site...  
  
Thanks for all the reviews ^_^ This is totally insane... there were like 21 just for the first chapter and I can't hope to thank you all personally. So I'll just say thank you in general. There were two things though that I thought I'd better address personally though...  
  
And yes Jason... I think you've managed to cover all the mistakes ^_^ It was very amusing to watch the reviews come in in rapid succession while you were reading it though. Ah well, at least I can go back and edit the stories... eventually.  
  
Yuki Shinomori - I'd never flame you!! In fact, I think it's a great idea... only, it's your idea and I'd hate to steal it. So why don't you write it? I'm sure it'll be great ^_^  
  
And yes... those are real questions that customs people in Vegas have to ask visitors.  
  
* * *  
  
Sano's hands gripped the side of the chair and his eyes were clenched tightly. He wasn't going to look, nothing on this world could make him look. It would be over in a second, all he needed was a second and it would be...  
  
There was a large thud and Sano's eyes flew open. A huge rumbling under his feet caused the sweat to start pouring from his head. The walls around him shook and Sano felt himself being pulled forward. That's it... this is it... he was going to die...  
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of All Nippon Airways and United Airlines, let me welcome you to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas Nevada. The temperature outside is currently 87 degrees Fahrenheit with a high of 101. Local time is 8:30 am, Tuesday. We'll be arriving at Gate D32 in a few moments. Please stay seated until then with your seat belts securely fastened..."  
  
"Sano?" Kaoru asked, looking over at the terrified man.  
  
"Oi, tori-atama," Megumi said, hitting him on the head. The motion made him fall forward onto the chair in front of him.  
  
"Is he alright?" Kenshin asked looking over.  
  
Megumi shook her head. "It's like he passed out cold," she said, reaching down into the seat pocket in front of her. She pulled out the small bottle of sake and opened it up, waving it under Sano's nose.  
  
Sano's eyes blinked a few times and he looked around. "Hey we made it... that wasn't too bad."  
  
Megumi just rolled her eyes. Yeah, passing out was a completely normal reaction to landing, she said to herself. She grabbed her things and made her way out of the plane, glad to stretch her legs. She frowned watching the first class passengers walk off before everyone else and then pass through customs without any problems.  
  
She tossed the passport at the US Customs official with a scowl. He looked up at her, asked a few questions and passed her through without much of a wait. Kaoru followed, smiling nicely for all the officials there and chatting with her American law enforcement brothers as best as she could in English.  
  
The customs official in the next aisle held the passport up to his eyes and looked at the smiling picture. He lowered the book and looked over at the man in front of him, who was smiling in the exact same way. He held up the passport again and checked the nationality again. Japanese?? After few more seconds, he shrugged and passed it back to him.  
  
Meanwhile, two rows down, Sano was leaning up against the counter as the official began to ask him questions.  
  
"Where are you coming from sir?"  
  
Sano paused and translated the words as best he could. Hey, he could manage in English but wasn't quite as fluent as the rest of the group. "From the airplane," he responded, somewhat puzzled.  
  
"No sir, I mean what is your place of origin?"  
  
"Oh... uh, Japan?"  
  
"The city sir?"  
  
"Tokyo. Do you need the address?"  
  
"No, sir. Where are you going now, sir?"  
  
Sano paused. "The baggage claim?"  
  
"After that, sir."  
  
"Ah... the hotel."  
  
The custom's official sighed. It was going to be a long day. "What hotel sir," he asked, struggling to remain calm.  
  
"Bela...be all... belal.."  
  
"Bellagio, thank you sir. What is the purpose of your trip?"  
  
Sano raised an eyebrow. "Isn't this Las Vegas?"  
  
The custom official looked at him. "Yes sir... it is..."  
  
"Well, then the only thing to do here is gamble, right?" Sano said with a smile.  
  
The official forced a smile back and checked 'pleasure'. "Sir are you bringing in more than 10,000 US Dollars today?"  
  
Sano paused. "What?"  
  
"Do you have $10,000 or more with you?"  
  
Sano looked at him and started to laugh. "Are you joking?"  
  
"SANO!" Looking over, Sano saw Megumi standing with her hands on her hips. "Hurry up already!" Sano glowered and turned back to the official just in time to get his passport back. The official looked so pleased to see him go.  
  
Baggage claim was complete chaos, which was not a surprise since flights have a way of coming it at the same time. Kenshin and Sano pushed their way to the front to catch the groups' belongings. Five minutes later, Sano was attempting to balance five piece of luggage that belonged to Megumi. Muttering something about how women always over pack, Sano pushed his way through the crowd, leaving Kenshin to get the rest of it.  
  
The red haired man sighed as he put his foot on the edge of the baggage carousel. Next to him, a small family laughed as the father tried to get the large suitcase off the moving treads. Kenshin leaned over and helped, earning him a few grateful smiles from the children.  
  
He smiled back before turning back to the moving bags. This was a good life, he realized. The circumstances that brought him to Las Vegas now were so much better then the reasons he had come before. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Kaoru trying to pull apart Megumi and Sano, the man having cracked a joke about the amount of luggage she had brought.  
  
It was moments like this that he could almost forget all the years with the Hiten yakuza. But they were still there, just hiding the recesses of his mind. He might not be an assassin any longer but there was no escaping his past. And Las Vegas was littered bad memories.  
  
He sighed. Well, maybe this time, he'll get the chance... to...  
  
Kenshin froze, looking across the carousel and locking eyes with the man there. The man did the same and neither of them moved for a moment, too shocked by what they were seeing. Kenshin hadn't been imaging things on the plane!! It shouldn't have been possible but there he was, standing across from him with a surprised look on his face.  
  
Kenshin's eyes narrowed and he paused for a minute while trying to make a decision. Too bad that the time he needed to think was all the time that someone else needed to act.  
  
"HIRUMA GOHEI!" Kaoru suddenly called from behind him. Kenshin turned just in time to see Kaoru running through the crowd, past him and onto the carousel.  
  
"Kaoru-dono!" he managed just as she hit the moving treads. It never phased her, never unbalanced her at all. It took Kenshin a second to try to understand where her motivation was coming from. Of course, Hiruma had been a police officer! They must still have been looking for him in Japan.  
  
Kaoru dodged a few bags as she went up and over the carousel, heading right for Hiruma. The Tokyo PD had been looking for him for the past five years and here he was, right in front of her. Screw vacation, this guy was going down.  
  
Hiruma decided it was in his best interest to run. As if seeing the Battousai himself wasn't enough to shake him to his core, the woman running at him and screaming at him to stop in the name of the Tokyo PD was all he needed to start running.  
  
The hefty man pitched backwards, breaking through the crowd and trying to run away. But the baggage claim area didn't afford him much free space and a few steps later, he was already at the neighboring carousel.  
  
"Crap," Hiruma said, jumping up onto the treads, shooting a glance behind him to see both the woman and the assassin after him. Unfortunately, his balance was far from perfect and a few steps later, he fell face first onto the treads.  
  
His only saving grace was that it happened to be right at the luggage exit and he was swept away from the baggage claim area. Kaoru didn't pause but ran in after him, followed quickly by Kenshin. Sano ran up shortly afterwards but stopped at the flaps. Screw this, he was going to find airport security to shut the damn thing down.  
  
The Las Vegas airport had just upgraded their baggage claim system. A web of interwoven moving treads filled the underground warehouse, shuttling bags back and forth from planes to the different terminals. It was the most advanced system to date and the trio riding it may have been impressed if they weren't so intent on catching each other.  
  
Hiruma cursed and stood up, grabbing a near by suitcase and flinging it back at his pursuers. Kaoru realized what was happening at the last second and managed to take the side step the bag. The only problem was it completely unbalanced her and she pitched to the left side, tumbling off the tread.  
  
Kenshin shot forward and tried to reach her but a second bag from Hiruma caught him off guard and he hit the right side of the track, flipping over the small barrier there and falling below.  
  
Hiruma smiled as he surveyed the damage. Both his pursuers had probably just tumbled to their death and he was in the clear.  
  
The track he was on suddenly pitched down and Hiruma barely managed to stay standing. He looked up and saw the black haired woman slowly approaching him from the neighboring track. She knelt down and picked up what appeared to be a ski pole. And from the look on her face, Hiruma knew he was in trouble.  
  
Kaoru waited until the right moment and then jumped, landing next to him. She brought the pole up, holding it like a sword and advanced forward. She threw a head strike and followed it with a sideswipe for good measure. Hiruma used a small suitcase a shield and barely managed to avoid getting hit.  
  
Worse than that, he could see a flash of red from his right, moving fast towards him. This wasn't going to be good. He pushed the bag forward, letting the ski pole spear it through the center. He gasped as the pointed end came way too close to his throat for comfort.  
  
He saw the assassin jump and took his chance. Hiruma pushed the bag away from him, sending the pole and Kaoru tumbling backwards, right into the path of the incoming Kenshin. The two of them collapsed into a heap onto the track and Hiruma took his chance to jump away to a neighboring track, watching them disappear out of one of the exits.  
  
The track took both Kenshin and Kaoru back onto the carousel they had started from. Collapsed as they were, it was almost as if they had been caught in the middle of a lover's tryst. A couple of people covered their children's eyes and of course, the carousel decided at the moment to come to a grinding halt.  
  
Kaoru looked up and blushed feverishly, realizing what it looked like. She turned to all the gawking people, embarrassment suddenly turning to anger.  
  
"Why don't you take a picture! It'll last longer," she called out in English, remembering the phrase from a movie.  
  
But unlike the movie, the people didn't turn away. In fact, cameras seemed like just the thing for a moment like this. Kenshin, rather wisely, decided the whole swirly-eyed look was going to be better then looking conscious enough to be a target of Kaoru's anger. Sano watched the scene unfold and very wisely decided not to tell them who had got the tracks to stop. Megumi just snickered as flashes filled the small area.  
  
* * *  
  
Misao looked over at the computer screen with a frown. Yumi... her escape plan was flawless. It had taken the Tokyo PD almost half a day to realize that she was gone! Worse than that... several of the Juppongatana members had gone missing hours after her escape.  
  
The Juppongatana should have been destroyed with Shishio's death. But instead, it seemed they were regrouping. Was there a new leader coming to power? Or were the remaining Juppongatana members seeking an alliance with another family?  
  
She frowned and closed the laptop. Something was wrong. It sat in her stomach unhappily and made the ever-perky spy just a bit unnerved. She hated not knowing what was going on. There had to be a way to get into their organization like Kaoru had done.  
  
Misao stretched back in her seat, shooting a glance over at the sleeping Aoshi. She was still amazed he actually slept. Since she had known him, he seemed so intent on his work that he wouldn't waste a moment on sleep. Of course, he still had the same look etched on his face. She sighed... she almost missed the days when they were just cop and informant. At least he had seemed a bit more human then.  
  
She reached forward and pulled the magazine from the seat pocket in front of her. Working for the JIA had its benefits... travel was not one of them. What had Okina said again?  
  
"How do you expect to sneak in to Vegas if we fly you on a private jet or in first class?"  
  
Misao frowned. Cheapskate. Like anyone would be looking for them in Vegas. It was just an excuse to save some cash.  
  
She flipped through the magazine, reading a couple of articles before it finally hit her. She paused and pulled the page out of the magazine, earning her a few glares from her neighbors.  
  
She stared at them before flipping open her laptop. She needed to do some cross checking but this idea might just work. Of course, trying to convince Aoshi to let her do it was an entirely different matter but maybe... maybe she could get Kaoru to help instead.  
  
* * *  
  
"Tell me again what happened?"  
  
Kaoru frowned. She knew her English wasn't good but she thought she was making things rather clear. It didn't help that most of the airport security had stumbled onto the scene and spent more time trying not to laugh then asking her questions.  
  
"I'll take it over from here."  
  
Kaoru blinked and looked up watching the tall man take a seat across from her. He was rather handsome with his short black hair and determined face. She smiled a bit, recognizing the facial features as Japanese.  
  
"Gomen," he started in Japanese. "I was stuck in traffic otherwise I would have been here sooner."  
  
"Not at all," Kaoru smiled, happy to be speaking in Japanese again.  
  
"I'm Shouzo Rorenzo," he said. "I work for the Las Vegas Police Department."  
  
"Kamiya Kaoru," she said with a smile. "Tokyo Police Department."  
  
"Yes, I know. It's nice to meet you," he said with a small bow of his head. "I apologize for all this inconvenience but we had to do a quick background check on all of you." Kaoru's heart clenched. Did they know? Is that why Kenshin and Sano were not here with her?  
  
"It all came back fine," he continued, opening up his bag and pulling out a yellow pad of paper. "But before we let you go, we just want to know what happened."  
  
Kaoru nodded and related the story quickly, trying not to embellish too much and growing rather silent towards the end of.  
  
"Who is this Hiruma Gohei?" Shouzo asked.  
  
"An ex-officer for the Tokyo PD," Kaoru responded with a frown. "It turned out he was on a couple of the yakuza payrolls though. We've been trying to arrest him for years! I just couldn't believe he was here in Las Vegas."  
  
"May I make a suggestion?" Shouzo said. Kaoru nodded slowly. "The next time you see a felon, try contacting us first." Kaoru blushed sheepishly and nodded again.  
  
"I guess," she started, "I was just so upset to see him here that I didn't think much."  
  
"Well," Shouzo said standing up, motioning for her to follow, "it's done now. We'll put out an all-points bulletin on him just like we did for that other mobster."  
  
"Other mobster?" Kaoru asked as she followed him to the door.  
  
"Komagata Yumi," he said, opening the door. "We got news this morning from Tokyo."  
  
Kaoru's face froze in shock. She barely recognized the rest of her friends as she stumbled outside.  
  
"Once you've gotten to your hotel, please give me a call," he said handing her the card. "We may need to ask you more questions."  
  
Kaoru nodded slightly and took the card from him, barely watching him disappear. Megumi walked up next to her and looked at the card in Kaoru's hand.  
  
"Shouzo Rorenzo?" Megumi said reading it off the card. "Well, I don't blame you for the look of absolute shock. I didn't think Japanese men could be that handsome."  
  
"OI!" Sano called, slightly annoyed by what she had just said.  
  
Megumi just shot him a look and then looked back at her friend. "Kaoru?" she asked.  
  
"I think we might have a problem," Kaoru finally managed.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of Japan Air Lines, let me welcome you to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas Nevada. The temperature outside is currently 98 degrees Fahrenheit with a possible high of 101. Local time is 1:45 p.m. Tuesday. We'll be arriving at Gate D35 in a few moments. Please stay seated until then with your seat belts securely fastened..."  
  
Misao yawned as she waited for the seat belt sign to turn off. Aoshi moved next to her, finally awake. She smiled a good morning but just got his normal stoic glare in return. She frowned and decided that a cup of coffee was in order the moment they got off the plane.  
  
They stumbled through customs, got not problems despite the fake passports, and managed to make it over to the baggage claim area. Misao decided to let Aoshi take care of that and went off in search of coffee.  
  
Of course, this being the United States, she only had to walk a few meters before she hit a Starbucks.  
  
"How much are you charging for a cup of coffee?" she asked with surprise after reading the board. The man repeated the price and Misao laughed. And they said coffee was expensive in Japan.  
  
"Oh... and a copy of the local paper too," she said as he handed the coffee.  
  
"Here you go," he said. "The afternoon edition just came out."  
  
Misao smiled and handed him some money before walking back to the baggage carousel. She tried to sip her coffee and read the paper at the same time. It proved rather difficult to do so while balancing everything.  
  
It proved down right impossible when she saw the picture at the bottom. It was from earlier this morning and well... the caption kind of said it all. Except the names of the two people. Not that Misao needed it.  
  
"Let's go," Aoshi said dropping the baggage near her and taking the cup of coffee. He went for the paper but Misao dodged. He looked at her strangely.  
  
"I'm not finished with it," Misao said quickly.  
  
"Then just give me the front page," Aoshi replied, reaching to pull the page from her. "I want to see what's going on in this town."  
  
"I really don't think it's a good idea," Misao said dodging again.  
  
"Misao..." he said firmly. "What's going on?"  
  
Misao smiled broadly. "Nothing. Why would anything be wrong?"  
  
"Then give me the paper."  
  
"No!"  
  
"Misao..."  
  
"Why would you want to..." Misao trailed off, realizing Aoshi was no longer paying attention to her. He was walking towards the newsstand. Before Misao could do anything, he picked up the local paper and read off the front page.  
  
There was a few seconds of silence.  
  
Then his face cracked its normal stoicism and his eyes got that look most fathers did right before they went for the shotgun.  
  
* * *  
  
"See!" Megumi said. "I told you it would work out. We'll just split the room in half and I still get the bedroom with the bathroom and whirlpool."  
  
Kaoru sighed and collapsed on the sofa. She gave up. Megumi was hell bent on enjoying some sort of luxury on this vacation. Losing first class tickets had been hard enough but she wasn't about to give up her suite with the hot tub to down grade to two rooms.  
  
"Feh, all this stuff will take up half the room," Sano complained as he dropped the bags on the ground. "What the hell did you pack anyway?"  
  
"I'm giving several presentations," Megumi snapped back. "Why didn't you just have the bellhop do it?"  
  
"And tip him with what?" Sano replied. "We lost half the day with airport security and never got the chance to exchange our money."  
  
"Maa maa," Kenshin said walking in. The bickering hadn't stopped since they left the airport. Well, at least between Sano and Megumi. Kaoru was resigned to muted looks. He wished it was just over the fact the Yumi might be in the area but considering the glare she gave him every time he looked her way, he was pretty sure that it was partly his fault.  
  
There was a knock at the door and Megumi went up to answer it. She exchanged a few words with the man there and walked back in with a paper in her hand.  
  
"He just said that someone called Aoshi was waiting downstairs with a little girl. It must be Misao."  
  
"That was fast," Sano said. "They must be here for Yumi."  
  
Megumi shrugged opening the paper. "They'll tell us soon enough. I told him to send them up... as... soon..." Megumi trailed off.  
  
"Nani?" Kaoru asked, walking up to her. She saw the front page. She saw the picture. She saw the caption. She saw three shade of angry before looking over at Kenshin. And then suddenly...  
  
"Megumi..." Kaoru said softly. "You don't think Aoshi might have seen this?"  
  
Megumi's eyes opened up and she went to say something just as there was a pounding on the door. Kaoru and Megumi rushed to the door, pushing against it to hold it back.  
  
"What's going on?" Sano asked.  
  
Kaoru frowned. "Ummm... well remember how Aoshi's usually very emotionless?" she asked. The two guys nodded. The door behind them pounded.  
  
"Remember how he gets whenever Kaoru was in trouble?" Megumi asked. The two guys nodded, a bit slower this time. Aoshi's voice was very clear now.  
  
"Remember how he likes to play the big brother routine?" Kaoru added.  
  
"Try to think of what he would be like if he saw that picture and that caption without knowing the real story," Megumi finished.  
  
"Kaoru! Open this door or I'm shooting in the lock."  
  
"Aoshi... calm down already I'm sure there's a..."  
  
The sound of a gun being chambered echoed in the hallway. Kaoru and Megumi exchanged a glance and Kaoru put her hand on the handle. Firing a gun in a hotel would cause way too many problems and neither of them were sure if Aoshi was just kidding.  
  
Sano nodded at the action, realizing there was no choice, and grabbed Kenshin, dragging the red haired man towards the window. "Okay, if we aim right we can hit the water in front of the hotel and just swim away."  
  
"Sano!" Kenshin protested, pulling away. "We're about 30 stories off the ground. We can explain this..."  
  
Kaoru opened the door and Aoshi walked in. Amazingly enough, he still looked calm. Kenshin relaxed a bit, realizing that maybe the girls had just over-exaggerated things. Maybe he was really just going to ask calmly for an explanation.  
  
Or maybe this was just the calm before the storm.  
  
"You," Aoshi said, pointing at Kenshin, his voice so steady it was unnerving. "I knew there was a reason I didn't like you."  
  
"Aoshi..." Kaoru started but the man was already advancing on Kenshin.  
  
"There's a very good explanation," Kenshin said with a smile. "I'm sure that... oro!"  
  
Aoshi threw the punch and Kenshin ducked. He threw another punch and Kenshin ducked again with a little oro. Aoshi rounded up for the third but found his arm locked in place. Looking back he saw that Kaoru had latched on his elbow and was leaning back, using all her weight to prevent him from continuing.  
  
"Aoshi!" Kaoru snapped. "Stop this right now!"  
  
"Kaoru, don't...."  
  
"Do you think that little of me? That I would ever do something like that?" she asked, looking up at him with angry eyes. He paused for a moment before he let in sink in and his anger broke.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said softly.  
  
"You're damn right you are," Kaoru said, putting her hands on her hips. "You should all be sorry! This is our vacation! And all everyone has done is fight since we landed! Well, it stops now. We are going to have fun!" she said firmly. "Do I make myself clear?"  
  
There was a muted silence before they all nodded.  
  
Misao looked in from the doorframe. "So... ummm... is it safe to come in yet?" 


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: So how did this chapter come out so quickly? Really, really simple.

1. I ordered Seisshonen and it should be here any day. From what I've read, I'm guessing that after watching it, my creative skills are going to be seriously diminished and I'll just write a lot of bad poetry about how the world sucks.

2. A coworker lent me a new CD… one that might just rival Crystal Method. It's from Disturbed, called The Sickness. Wow, did I have fun writing to this one.

Anyway you guys are reviewing too fast for me to thank everyone personally again. All I can say is I'm really really happy the last chapter worked. Humor is really hard to write for me. I love reading it but I never know if it'll work when I do it. So it's nice that people enjoyed it.

***

"There will be no argument."

Aoshi blinked in surprise, something that rarely happened. But he steeled himself to argue further. He was not going to back down. "Mi…"

"NO!" Misao yelled, hands on her hips, eyes near black with anger. "Megumi is at a conference, Kenshin and Sano went to gamble and you're the one who caused all the problems. So I am taking Kaoru and we are going out and you are not coming with us."

"This is Las Vegas, it's not…"

Misao's hand snapped out and grabbed his collar. The move caught him completely off guard. It was completely uncharacteristic but…completely proving her determination in this matter.

"I owe her for Tokyo," Misao said firmly. 

Aoshi took in a deep breath. He had a bad feeling that he was going to regret this but… "Fine. Be back…"

"You're not our father," Misao said walking away with a smile before he could finish.

She left the living room of the suite and entered the bedroom where Kaoru was sitting on the bed flipping through a magazine about Vegas. Misao shot her a thumbs-up.

"He actually agreed?"

Misao paused. "Well… umm…"

"You didn't tell him," Kaoru finished.

"Well, I didn't lie. I told him we were going out to have some fun."

Kaoru looked at her with a frown, as if chastising her for lying to Aoshi. But then her face broke out into a smile.

"I see you learned quickly," Kaoru said.

Misao rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we need to have a talk about that. The whole big brother thing…"

"Ah… remember the gun at the door," Kaoru replied quickly. "I think I understand."

"So how do you get him to stop?" Misao asked.

"Actually… I was kind of hoping when he partnered with you he'd leave me alone." She shrugged when Misao shot her a look. Neither of them was going to win against Aoshi. "Anyway… what's the plan?"

Misao shook the anger off and smiled. "It's a great plan. I promise." She walked out of the room with Kaoru behind her and quickly headed for the door before…

"By 2AM," Aoshi said from his seat on the couch.

Misao sighed. Not fast enough. 

***

"Blackjack my ass," Sano said looking at the table. "This is what I like. Might not be even/odd, but it's close enough."

"Place your bets!" the dealer called.

Sano held up a chip. "Okay, Kenshin… what should I pick, red or black?"

Kenshin looked at him blankly and then back at the roulette table. "Eh… red?"

"RED!" Sano said, slamming the chip down with a smile.

The dealer let the ball go and it spun around a few times before coming to a stop. "10, winner is 10 black."

Sano laughed a bit. "Okay, just a bad start. Try again."

"Anou… Sano, I don't think this is such a…"

"Just pick a color, how hard could it be?"

"Why don't you just pick a color?"

"Kenshin…"

Kenshin sighed. He didn't want to know. Sano had tried to explain it, something that resembled Feng Shui but had to do with gambling. He had to pick the right table, pick the right spot and then he'd be lucky. And apparently, he was under the impression that Kenshin was going to be his good luck charm.

"Black?" Kenshin tried.

"34, 34 Red!" the dealer called out.

"Black," Kenshin said, deciding from Sano's glare that just switching back and forth wasn't going to work.

"30, 30 Red!"

Sano blistered. He looked over at Kenshin and paused. "Okay… what now?"

"Eh… Red," Kenshin said.

Sano slammed his chip down on black.

"Oro?" Kenshin muttered watching him. "I said red." But Sano held up a finger and told him to wait.

"6, 6 Black!"

Sano nodded firmly. So that's how it was going to be. He looked over at the redheaded man with a smile that almost scared him. In fact, Kenshin feet were instinctively moving away. But Sano hand snapped out and he pulled the man back.

"Oh no you don't," Sano said. "Start guessing again."

Fifteen minutes later, Sano had amassed a small fortune thanks to picking exactly the opposite of what Kenshin said. Looking at chips, he realized that there were several thousand dollars there. And Kenshin's bad luck wasn't changing. 

If things kept up, Sano might have enough money to buy a new car! No more groveling at jou-chan for a ride. No more pleading with megitsune to lend him her car. 

"Okay, what next?" 

There was no response.

"Oi, Kenshin," Sano said looking at the other man. But Kenshin's attention was not at the table anymore. He was watching the scene in front of him unfold.

People were moving away from the main walkway, floating like tiny waves to either side to create a path for the trio that was walking down the center. The two men were non-descript and large, dressed in black. They had the menacing look that could only mean they were bodyguards. And it was what they were guarding had everyone's attention.

Her black hair was pulled up, held up with a clip that sparkled in the casino lights. Her porcelain skin was touched with the only the faintest traces of make up. The Chinese style shirt followed every curve of her body, blending in perfectly with the black skirt with two slits on the side that almost went to waistline.

But it was her eyes that made most people freeze in awe. Crystal gray, almost white, orbs stared at them with a perfect balance of aloofness and demureness. In short, utter perfection was walking down the aisle and she had just locked eyes with Kenshin. A smile played across her painted lips as she shifted directions to head towards him. 

Sano was no longer concerned with the roulette table. If he had any semblance of intelligence left, he may have noticed that even the dealer was no longer spinning the wheel.

"They told me," she said suddenly, her voice filling the casino with the song of a nightingale, "there was a man who's luck was so bad that his friend was actually winning every time by choosing the opposite of what he had. And I thought… that sounds so much like a man I once knew. But that man would never dare set foot in this city without seeing me first."

The spell broke for Sano and he went to ask her who the hell she thought she was talking to Kenshin like that. But the redheaded man held up a hand and shook his head. And without another word, simply followed her out of the casino.

***

"Misao…" 

"What's wrong now? I thought we had gone through this five times already!"

"I just have one question."

"What's that?"

"What part of this," Kaoru said pointing to the cotton tail on her leotarded butt, "is a," she continued pointing to the bunny ears on her head, "good idea?" she finished pointing to the fishnet stocking and high heeled shoes.

Misao sighed, looking at the bunny outfit. "I'm in the same thing too, okay?"

"No… no," Kaoru said shaking her head. "See when you said we would be working undercover… well, I kind of thought it would involve a bit more covering," she finished attempting to pull the neckline a bit higher only to have it slope back down immediately to her bustline.

"It's the uniform they use here! It's not my idea. But you don't have to help," Misao replied. 

"Yes I do," Kaoru said. "Because your plan involves two people."

Misao smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "Come on how bad could it be?"

Kaoru looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm guessing it might just top this afternoon's antics." But she took in a deep breath and resigned herself to the fact that some part of her really, really wanted to do this. After all, she hadn't worked undercover since before the surgery.

She grabbed the tray and strapped in on, looking down at the assortment of cigarettes there. She walked out of the backroom and onto the floor of the casino. This was nowhere as nice as the one in the Bellagio. In fact this was way down the road from her luxury hotel in the more rundown section of town

But according to Misao this is where they needed to be. And Kaoru knew she could trust the girl's information because she could trust Misao. Aoshi had told her the entire story of what happened on the ship after she was shot and if anything, Kaoru owed her this for getting help back then.

A few minutes later, Kaoru's hand was smarting from the amount people she had had to swat away. Really now… just 'cause a girl dresses this way doesn't mean it's a feel-for-all.

"Hey honey bunny!"

Kaoru cringed slightly but turned to face the guy with a smile. It almost dropped when she realized who it was. She shot a glance across the room at Misao and the other girl nodded. Okay, Kaoru would get their attention so that Misao could slip the bug into their clothes.

Kaoru walked forward, plastering a smile on her face. "Yes, gentlemen," she said in her best English. "What do you need?"

"I'll take a pack of Marlboros," the thin, greasy one said. Misao rounded from the back of the table towards them, placing her tray down on an empty table.

"Give me a pack of Camels," the one with broad shoulder added. Kaoru nodded and leaned forward to pull the packs out of the tray just as Misao slipped the small device into the jacket slung against the back of the chair.

"Hey honey, get me a pack of Camels too. Sorry I'm late, you wouldn't believe what happened this morning…"

Kaoru froze. Oh no… she recognized that voice.

"Hey, sweetheart, anytime now."

Misao shot her a worried glance, unsure of what was going on. But before Kaoru could react the man had grabbed her and spun her around.

"Are you liste… YOU!" 

Hiruma turned a few shades of pale. "You're the psycho cop," he continued, switching to Japanese.

The word 'cop' was enough for his partners to look up with venom in their eyes. Kaoru backed up quickly, unhooked the tray, letting it fall from her neck and pushed her heels out of the shoes as they attacked.

She ducked and rolled, coming out of the high heel shoes. She turned and stood up, just in time to throw a mid level block as Greasy threw a punch. She countered quickly, grabbing his wrist and spinning under his arm, pinning his hand painfully to his back. Her right leg snapped back suddenly, catching Shoulders right in the gut as he attempted to catch her from behind.

Her grip had loosened on Greasy's hand when she kicked and he squirmed away, turning and throwing his own kick right at her. Kaoru leant backwards, in a weird sort of move she usually reserved for limbo contest, and let his foot harmless pass over her.

She reached up and grabbed his foot firmly in her hand. Standing back up, she used the momentum to push him away and stumbling back into a casino table. Not wasting a moment, she introduced him to a few moves she learned at the Academy and had him firmly secured on the ground in a few seconds.

Looking over, she saw Misao had gotten Shoulders in a similar position. Looking around, though, Kaoru suddenly realized that Hiruma had gotten away again.

***

Sano cursed as he kicked at the ground. The night had gone from bad to worse. As soon as Kenshin and the woman left, the dealer had spun the wheel and Sano had lost. Looking over at the retreating form of his friend, Sano could only shake his head. Kenshin would take care of himself and considering his reaction to the woman, he didn't want Sano involved.

Besides… Sano had just lost. He needed to win it back right away.

Ten minutes later, he had lost all his winnings and walked out of the casino to get some fresh air. The main strip glittered in the night's sky but it was only another distraction to him. So he turned down one of the side roads and started to walk.

Las Vegas' beauty slowly faded and turned into modular houses and empty lots. A few people sat outside, enjoying the warm night's air but for the most part, the place was dead.

A spire of light suddenly appeared out of no where and Sano paused looking up at the source. A sprawling Cathedral lay in front of him, its stony façade weaving up towards the sky. It was lit up with lights from the ground and the stain glass in the center seemed to have another source of light behind it.

The door suddenly swung open and a man came stumbling out, his arms full of an array of items. Sano watched with confusion as he ran straight towards him and Sano effortlessly caught him before the man passed him by.

"Oi, what's the rush?" Sano asked.

The man looked up at him with wide eyes and without warning dropped the items and swung at him. Sano moved back slightly so that the punch only grazed him. He smiled and threw his own punch, sending the man sprawling at the ground.

"You want a fight?" Sano asked advancing. "You got…"

"Stop it right now!"

Sano paused looking down at his arm and the two tiny hands latched on to it. He looked down and saw a woman almost completely covered in black looking up at him. Even her hair was hidden beneath a long black headdress.

"What?" Sano asked.

The man took his chance and ran off. The nun lost her interest in Sano and moved after the man. "Wait Norris! You…" the woman's head sunk.

"Look what you did!" she said unhappily as she walked towards him.

"What are you talking about? He tried to hit me first!"

She knelt down and collected the dropped articles. With a sigh, Sano started to help but stopped when he noticed exactly what they were. "This is silver!" he said.

"Yes," the woman said, grabbing it from him.

"So wasn't that man stealing this from you?" Sano asked."No… no, he was just… borrowing them," she said.

Sano was about to ask for further clarification when a noise from behind distracted him. Turning around, he saw a police car coming to a stop in front of the church. A tall man walked out and straight towards them. He seemed vaguely familiar.

"Magdaria," he said, reaching them. "Is everything okay?"

"No, it's not," the nun said. "I was trying to help…"

But the man's attention had turned from her to Sano. "What the hell did you do?"

"What?" Sano asked. "I didn't do a damn thing but help prevent a robbery!"

"Shouzo! Please."

The policeman backed down and looked at the nun. "What happened this time, Magdaria?"

"Nothing… I was just helping Norris to get back on his feet."

Shouzo's brow furrowed. "Norris? As in Norris the drug user I have arrested at least ten times this past year?"

"He was going to stop this time," Magdaria replied. "He just needed some money to start."

Shouzo's anger abated and he sighed. "All right, let's just go back inside and straighten things up." 

Magdaria nodded and turned to Sano. "Peace be with you," she said, before leaving.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Shouzo turned to Sano. "Thank you for your help. I'll take it from here."

Sano barely heard him. It wasn't until they were both gone that Sano's thoughts finally calmed down. Peace be with you? What the hell did that mean?

***

"Tell me you were on your way to see me."

Kenshin frowned and sat back in the seat, trying to find a truthful answer that wouldn't result in severe pain and dismemberment. 

The woman across from him sighed. "Well I'm glad I had a meeting at the Bellagio then," she said. She leaned forward and tapped on the divider between the driver and the main compartment. It rolled down and she gave a few silent orders before turning back to her guest.

Kenshin frowned as the limo turned away from the Main Strip. Coming here had been dangerous. Refusing would have been worse though. This was not a woman who was refused.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

The woman looked a bit surprised but smiled. "Don't worry. We're taking a short cut. I want to make sure that we're not being followed."

Kenshin looked through the back window of the limo, seeing a pair of headlights flash towards them and then turn off. "I don't think your meeting went well," Kenshin said.

"Very perceptive," the woman said. She knocked on the glass three times and the limo sped up.

"I think we have a few moments before the fun begins," she said with a smile. "So are you going to tell me why you're here? Business or pleasure"

"Pleasure," he said firmly.

Her gray eyes sparkled. "I know. I saw the paper this morning."

Kenshin's frown deepened. Not only had she known he was here for almost half a day… she knew about Kaoru. Things were getting progressively worse.

There was a gunshot and the limo swerved. The woman was completely unfazed. "And were you going to share that pleasure with me at all?" she said with a small pout.

"I'm smarter than that."

She laughed just as the car swerved sharply to the left. "Yes, you were always smarter than you let on." The car suddenly spun around, screeching to a stop. The woman frowned. It was obvious one of the tires had just been shot out.

"So what do you say?" she said, flipping the seat bottom next to her up. Beneath it was an array of guns, two of which she handed up to the front of the car. "One more time for old times sake?"

"I'm not in that line of business anymore," he replied firmly.

She smiled. "I know. But I also know… you still like to protect your family."

Before he could say anything, she opened the door and stepped out. Her movements were almost unreadable as she pulled the two pistols out with her. From his vantage inside, he saw them exploding with fire as she moved across the street.

He clenched his hands. Damn it… she was right. He couldn't let her get hurt. He leaned forward and stopped in surprise. No… it couldn't be.

There was a gun lying in the pile, a small tag hung off the bottom. It had his name on it. Rather… it had Battousai Shinta on it. He shook his head. No, he was not going to play her game. But he wasn't going to just sit here either.

There was a yell of pain and one of the bodyguards went down. Kenshin took his chance, throwing open the opposite door and tumbling out onto the deserted street. With inhuman speed he cleared the open road before the attacker even had a chance to shoot at him.

He knelt down by the foliage, sparse as it was, and took cover around the corner of the building. His mind was racing through options when he suddenly saw movement from the other side of the street.

Guns blazing, the woman crossed the street and dove back into the limo. A second later she ran towards him, only one gun in her left hand firing without pause. In the other hand… no, it couldn't be.

She skidded to a stop in front of him. "I had hoped they were wrong but…" She held up the sword. It should have been destroyed, sunk to the bottom of the Japanese Sea. "Some things survived the ship wreck," she said, reading his thoughts. 

He paused and looked up at her, reading the double meaning in her words. She nodded firmly and then pointed towards the back of the building. He shook his head in defeat before he took off. He hadn't even cleared the back corner when he heard her firing again.

He rounded around the back, coming up behind the thugs. He took a quick count. There were only four still standing. There had to be at least eight men lying on the ground, motionless. She hadn't changed a bit, he realized.

Slipping the sword through a belt loop, he crouched down and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. He paused for a moment longer before taking off, heading towards the group before they realized what was going on.

The sword came out of the scabbard and arced towards the first man. The front of the blade hit the target and suddenly something warm hit Kenshin's face. Blood! His eyes opened in horror. It wasn't the reverse blade sword!

The muscles in his arm screamed in protest as he tried to move against every force of nature to stop himself from finishing the move. He fell forward, the blade scratching the gravel and sending up sparks as it did.

Kenshin turned around, realizing he had just come to the spot in the middle of four enemies with a weapon he couldn't use. They turned to face him but four shots rang out in rapid succession and they fell to the ground in a heap.

Turning he heard the soft clicks of shoes as the woman walked towards him. "You can't blame me for trying," she said with a smile.

"You…" Kenshin said, feeling the anger raising.

"Now now," the woman said with a smile. "I knew what would happen. Look around." 

Kenshin paused and looked down at the ground. Every man around him was bleeding from the same place, a gash at the side of his head. She had hit them all in the same place… enough to knock them out but not to kill them. Her legendary skills hadn't diminished at all.

He looked up at her, unable to hide the surprise. She was toying with him, knowing his vow not to kill and still trying to push him into breaking it. But at the same time…

"Why?" he demanded, bring the sword up to the light so that a tiny river of red twirled down it.

She laughed. "I just wanted to have a little harmless fun."

"HARMLESS?" he yelled.

"Calm down," she said evenly. "I know what happened in Tokyo, I know all about your vow to not kill anymore. But… I need help. And Tokyo can't spare that many people. What I said before… it's true."

Kenshin looked at her. So the Juppongatana had survived. Which meant that Yumi really was here. 

"So I needed you," she said. "This was just a test."

"A test?" he asked. "Tempting me with a gun… giving me a right sided blade was a test?"

She smiled. "No… having you help me survive this attack was the test. The others…" She looked down the street, seeing the approaching car.

"I tamed the Wolf," she said as the car came to a spot. "I just wanted to see if I could retrain the Assassin."

Kenshin glared at her as she opened the door. "I won't help you," he said firmly.

"Yes you will," she said. "Because once you're in the family, you can never just leave it. You know where to find me. Just give them my name at the front desk."

He watched the car disappear. Standing in the light of the streetlight, the sword by his side, blood still fresh on it and his face, Kenshin realized it was far worse then he originally thought.

Give them her name, eh? Well, she didn't need to tell him that. The mere mention of it made most people jump at attention. After all, there was no one in Las Vegas that didn't know the name Saitou Tokio.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note : Okay… next chapter is up. Mou, between all the fighting, I can't seem to get in any romance but at least I got a bit of humor in the mix. Well, I think I've set the premise of the story up by now and I have few things planned so maybe things'll change soon.

I know Sayo, Shouzo et al aren't popular but… they sort of fit the premise of this story soooo well. Sorry ^_^ And all the rabid Megumi/Sano fans, don't worry. Besides, I have something special planned for those two ^_~ (shh… no telling, Stacy…)

And yes, yes, jet lag. I know all about jet lag. I do however come from the harsh school of 'hit the ground running' meaning that when I travel, I just force myself to stay away until it's time to go to bed in their country usually by sightseeing all day. Of course, there's some pretty choice moments that were the result of that theory…

The last fight… that was on my list of things I wanted to see in the actual series ^_^ Too bad it was so short. Ah well… there's always next chapter.

***

"So that was a wash," Kaoru said, using a piece of tissue paper to wipe off the excess make-up.

"Not completely," Misao replied with a smile.

Kaoru stopped what she was doing and looked over at the younger girl. "What do you mean?"

"Well, before you went into Tekken mode, I sort of slipped something into that Hiruma guy's pocket."

"A microphone?" Kaoru asked.

"No, tracking device. Just as good." Misao buttoned the last bit of her shirt. "So are we…"

Misao trailed off, finally getting a good look at Kaoru. The other girl blinked and looked down, seeing the faint lines of the surgery scar on her chest, suddenly visible now that the make up was gone. Kaoru put a hand there and sighed.

"Does it hurt?" Misao said softly.

Kaoru shook her head, she said quickly pulling on the blouse. "Not anymore." More like not in a way that would make sense, she added to herself.

Misao nodded. "Do you miss him?" she added softly.

Kaoru looked down at the ground a bit sadly. "Of course." She shook her head. "Anyway, we should get moving if we want to catch up with Hiruma."

Misao paused. "Kaoru… I don't know if it's a good idea for you to go."

Kaoru blinked in surprise. "Are you turning into Aoshi?"

"No!" Misao protested. "But I'm thinking that maybe he was right. You should probably…"

"Misao," Kaoru interrupted, placing her hands on her hips. "You are the first person in half a year not to treat me like a porcelain doll. Do you have any idea of what it's been like? I've been taking care of myself for years and now they won't even let me walk down the street without an escort. It's horrible! I fell like I've been caged ever since I got back from the hospital. Please… please don't change on me now. I'm fine and I will be fine, I promise."

"Then we'd better get moving." Kaoru and Misao turned towards the door at the new voice. Aoshi stood there, arms crossed against his chest. 

"Aoshi…" Kaoru said.

"I can't stop you," he said. "So I'll feel better if I'm with you. Both of you," he added in Misao's direction. "Besides," he added, "I owe you one too." Kaoru smiled, nodding her head in agreement over his early explosion at the hotel.

"Then let's do this," Misao said reaching into her bag and pulling out a small CD case. She flipped it open, revealing the display screen and keypad hidden inside. The trio leaned over and examined the small screen.

"He stopped moving," Aoshi noted.

"Right," Misao said, "but if it's in a building, that might mean he didn't find the bug. Let's see…" she said, bringing up a map of Las Vegas and superimposing it on the radar screen. "Okay… he's at the Venetian, at the casino and… woah."

"What?" Kaoru asked.

"He's in the Baccarat room," she said. "The $10,000 opening bid baccarat room."

"Well he must be meeting someone," Kaoru said. "He's not exactly the $10,000 type."

Misao looked down at the chronometer at the bottom. "He's been in this location for ten minutes. If we move quick we can catch him."

"And how are we getting in there?" Kaoru said. "I am not wearing any more…" she trailed up looking at Aoshi, switching to an innocent smile.

"Don't worry," Misao said. "This time, we're going all out." And showing Okina exactly what happens when you stick agents in economy and not first class.

***

Down in the lower class part of Las Vegas, two figures walked in opposite directions down a street. Both seemed so lost in their thoughts that neither realized the other was there until they collided in the center.

"Sano?"

"Kenshin? What are you doing here?"

"… it's a long story."

"I bet." Sano paused and looked around. "Do I get to know who the chick was?"

Kenshin paused. "And old acquaintance."

"Ex-girlfriend?"

If Sano was not so concentrated on the open road around them, he might have seen the brief paleness take over Kenshin's face as the ex-assassin remembered what happened to the last guy that tried something with Tokio. They were still finding pieces of him.

"No."

"Ah… then that sort of acquaintance. Figured, what with this being Sin City and the yakuza liking to stick their noses in anything illegal." Sano paused and looked back at Kenshin. "Come on, just a name."

"You really want to know?"

"Yeah, I think after all the years as…"

"Saitou Tokio."

There was a pause. "Saitou… as in Saitou, I'll Aku-Soku-Zan your ass back to hell?" Kenshin nodded. "Sister?" He shook his head. "Cousin? … Mother?"

"Sano," Kenshin sighed, "be serious. It's his wife."

"No way," Sano said with a laugh. "Oh man, you had me going there. But that freak… no way someone would ever marry him. Especially a babe like her."

Kenshin looked up at Sano. "Have I ever lied to you?"

Sano paused and looked down at the shorter man. No, lying was not Kenshin's strong suit. But… but… Saitou… and that woman… and…

"Come on Kenshin."

"Where are we going?"

"I need to get drunk…really, really drunk."

***

"Dr. Takani?"

Megumi turned around, careful not to spill the champagne in the class on her nice black dress. "Doctor…" she returned in English, struggling for the name of the white haired man in front of her.

"Von Strasbourg," he supplied.

"Ah… I am sorry to have forgotten it," she said looking at the elderly man. 

"It's quite all right. I only remembered yours because it was attached to that spectacular lecture I attended earlier this afternoon on emergency trauma procedures in an urban setting."

If Megumi were the blushing type, this would have been more than enough to set her cheeks flaming. But she settled for the more professional reply. "Thank you. I hope you were able to learn something that will benefit your studies."

"I most definitely did," he replied.

"I'm sorry but what was your field of specialty?"

"Burn trauma," Von Strasbourg replied. "We've developed some very interesting techniques on restoring skin and muscles, even after third degree burning."

"Of course," Megumi said with a slight smile. "Your lecture is tomorrow. I should have realized earlier."

"It's quite all right," he replied, looking over her shoulder. A man there nodded at him and the old doctor turned to Megumi. "I'm sorry but I just saw someone I've been trying to meet. I really would like to discuss more things with you. Are you free for dinner tomorrow?"

"Yes," Megumi said with a nod, "I think we have information relevant to both of our fields." They briefly exchanged information before Von Strasbourg hurried off to meet the tall man with long black hair.

Megumi dropped the empty glass onto a tray of a passing waitress and looked at the time. Feh, the others were probably out celebrating their time in Las Vegas. From the way things were going she was going to be stuck either in formal functions like this or going to dinner with her colleagues.

Still, now that she had placed the man with his specialized field, she was rather excited at the chance to speak with him. 

"Takani-san."

Megumi turned, relieved to hear native Japanese. She bowed slightly at the man behind her. "Mitsui-san," she said. "Did you trip to Las Vegas go well?"

"Why yes, first class was simply wonderful, wasn't it?" Megumi's eyebrow twitched slightly. "Tokyo University certainly spare no expense in sending us here. Only, I heard you got one of the largest suites in the hotel. It must be nice to have all that space to yourself." Her eyebrow twitched slightly again but she turned away.

"Do you know who that is?" Megumi said, changing the subject. Mitsui followed where she had just looked with his eyes.

"Von Strasbourg?"

"No, the man he's with."

Mitsui frowned. "Of course I do. Amakusa Shougo, the self-proclaimed master of genetics. I've had the displeasure of working him on several accounts."

"Really?" Megumi said with surprise. "He's a problem to work with?"

Mitsui sighed. "I won't lie about his abilities. He really is a genius in what he does. They say that he's perfecting a procedure that might be the cure-all we've been looking for. It's too bad he's so damn arrogant. Do you know he won't let anyone see his work? Claims that he needs to perfect it before it is released, lest it be used for evil purposes. I don't believe him. Neither did any of the facilities in Tokyo. Which is why he's living here now and working for the Americans. You'd think that would have lowered his ego, but he still struts around like he's a god."

Megumi frowned. "That's too bad," she said. "I think what he's working on would be most interesting to learn about."

***

By eleven o'clock that evening, each group was fully engaged in what they were doing. Megumi was out with some of her colleagues at a piano bar, regaling them with tales of working in Tokyo Metropolitan Hospital. Kenshin was trying, rather unsuccessfully, to convince Sano that maybe he had had enough to drink for one night. At least his friend's antics were working to ease the troubled ex-yakuza's mind.

And as for the other group, Misao had kept her word. No more cheap bunny costumes. This was Las Vegas after all, a city that lived to take your money. And the Venetian had a few stores that Misao had only heard about in fashion magazines.

So ten minutes after they had arrived, the trio walked down the promenade of the Venetian next to the pseudo canals, creating a wake of stares as they did. Not for the girls, but at the man with them.

Of course, Aoshi was always something to be stared at, but tonight was different. If Misao ever met this 'Giorgio Armani', then he was going to get a hug for full filling at least half of her dreams. A black Chinese style jacket that fell below the knees and slacks to match, a pair of wire rimmed glassed on his nose… Aoshi looked like the Japanese version of James Bond.

The only problem was… he didn't act like the British spy at all. Misao sighed, letting herself smile at a more happier thought… the sound Okina would make when he saw the credit card bill they were about to wrack up.

The trio made their way towards the casino and split there, letting Aoshi walk towards the Baccarat room while they headed towards the bathroom to monitor the situation in privacy. Kaoru grabbed the maintenance sign and locked the door while Misao quickly set up the computer on the ground of the marble tiled bathroom.

As Aoshi walked down the plush carpets, the well-dressed man broke a few hearts, ignoring any offers that were made with perfect coldness, though a couple would have made most men blush. The man at the door of the Baccarat room looked at him with a critical eye before Aoshi held up the Platinum card. The guard took it, swiped it through at a machine, taking a look at the credit limit. The man nodded and gave Aoshi back the card.

Aoshi walked in and scanned the room, passing over the well-dressed group that occupied the fairly large room. The gold-laced chips at the tables only added to the air of richness in the room. A thin cloud of smoke hung around the area and if Aoshi had ever smoked something in his life, he might have recognized it as the smoke from Cuban cigars.

Okay… Misao voice crackled through the small piece in his ear, that's Hiruma at the table in the far end of the room. He's not playing, just waiting… good that must mean someone's going to meet him. There's any empty space next at the table next to him. Just play your hands slowly. It's been thirty minutes since he got here. Whoever he's meeting is going to have to show up soon.

Aoshi took a seat and silently handed over the card to the dealer, asking for 100 grand. Ten hands… he'd just have to spend a lot of time thinking before making decisions. He didn't know how much more money the credit card would give him.

Next to him, Hiruma shifted uncomfortably, motioning for a drink. Aoshi shifted to one side, letting the tiny mirror on his lenses catch the scene next to him.

Great, I can see him too… oh, don't move, someone's sitting next to him.

Aoshi concentrated on his cards, trying to remember exactly how he was supposed to play the game. The look of concentration was enough to make the dealer sit back and wait for him to move.

Aoshi stole a glance at the mirror again, looking at the balding man with a fur trimmed jacket sitting next to Hiruma. He didn't recognize him at all but he knew that Misao was taking a picture of him and comparing it against the JIA database.

Hang on a second longer… oh boy.

Aoshi's calm never broke as he waited for the startling revelation that Misao had just uncovered. He just casually stared in the mirror, concentrating on the figure so he would remember what he looked like.

The man with Hiruma is Sodojima Hoji, a ranking member of the Juppongatana. In fact, I think Yumi's the only one who might be higher than him. He's been working in Las Vegas for a few years, funneling a lot of money and trying to amass wealth to… Oh SHIT! Aoshi, get out of there right now!!

The yell took him off balance and Aoshi almost broke the concentrated look. Instead he slowly let his eye roll to the other lens of his glasses to see if Misao had just seen someone walking in that…

Aoshi slowly laid down his cards and began to casually reach for the gun strapped to his ankle. In a few seconds he was going to need it.

***

"Then you know… know what she said to me?"

"Yes, Sano, you've told me this about five…"

"Peace be with you. What the hell is that? When has… peace ever been with me?"

Kenshin sighed and shook his head. The first time, he had gotten the general idea of what had happened to Sano. The second time, he understood why his friend was so lost in though. But this… the fifth time, was about all he could take.

"Heh… she was kind of cute, not a looker like…"

Kenshin's eyes opened widely and he slapped a hand over Sano's mouth just as the drunken man mumbled out Saitou Tokio's name. All right, that was enough of that.

It was a bit amusing to watch Kenshin struggle with the full weight of Sano on him. In fact a couple of people had to stop and laugh at the image. Kenshin just ignored them and tried to concentrate on getting his friend home. 

Suddenly Sano pitched over to one size and Kenshin realized that he was either going to have to let Sano drop or fall with him and get crushed by the larger man. Lucky for him, someone managed to grab Sano's other side and right him again.

"Thank you," Kenshin said quickly in English looking around to see who it was.

"What the hell did this idiot go and do this time?"

Kenshin frowned at Megumi. It probably wasn't a good idea to aggravate a drunken man… a drunk Sano especially. 

"Oi… you! Why aren't you with your fancy doctor friends talking?"

Megumi glowered. "Oh, I thought the company of a brain-dead drunk would be more amusing."

"Eh?" Sano said. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Megumi-dono," Kenshin said, trying to calm her down.

"I mean it is more fun to watch you make a complete ass of yourself in public," the doctor replied.

Sano stood up and looked down at the doctor, suddenly looking rather sober. "This is what I was talking about Kenshin. Completely different from Magdaria. She's a girl with grace and class and nice to everyone she…"

"Who?" Megumi asked.

"Maa maa," Kenshin said, motioning frantically as he walked the growing group of onlookers. "Don't you think that…"

"Magdaria," Sano repeated, "a woman who obviously has more warmth and kindness in her little finger than you do in your entire body." Well, he didn't know that it was true but even in few moments he had met her, Sano had a feeling Magdaria was everything he said. 

Kenshin cringed. This was going to be bad. But for some reason, Megumi just shook her head and turned away. "I'll go get a cab. There's no way we can get him back to the hotel."

"Ah… okay," Kenshin said, watching her retreating form. Was Megumi actually offended by that? He shot a glance at Sano but the man looked just as confused as he did.

A short and silent trip back to the hotel later, Sano waved off their help and went into one of the bedrooms. Megumi dropped her purse and grabbed a glass, walking into the bathroom to fill it with water. As soon as Sano was out of earshot, Kenshin walked up to meet Megumi, almost being plowed over as she came out of the bathroom.

"Megumi-dono… are you all right?"

Megumi looked at him with a smile. "Of course, I'm just… tired from all the walking today. Here," she said handing the glass to Kenshin. "Sano should probably drink this before he goes to sleep. Good night," she said, leaving him there holding the glass.

Kenshin paused for a moment and then shrugged, walking into the bedroom where Sano had almost passed out.

"Hey, drink this," Kenshin said holding out the glass.

Sano opened an eye and looked at the water before sitting up and taking the glass. 

"Is anyone else here?"

Kenshin shook his head. "No but Aoshi's most likely with him and he's not the type to get into trouble."

Sano nodded and paused or a moment. "So… Megumi's…"

"Just tired," Kenshin answered, guessing the question. "I'm not surprised, it was a long trip and she's been working all day."

Sano nodded and took a deep drink of the glass. The gears in Kenshin's head kept turning. Megumi did look tired but… he hadn't known he to ever give up a fight so easily, especially with Sano. It just didn't… Kenshin's eyes snapped open as he suddenly realized what was happening. But by then it was too late.

"Oi, Kenshin… this water tastes weird. And what it's this white stuff at the bottom?"

Kenshin turned slowly and looked at the glass seeing the last remnant of a medical pill at the bottom. He looked up at Sano and even in his drunken state the other man suddenly realized what was going on. The only question was… what exactly had Megumi given him?

***

Saitou Hajime pushed by the guard, sparing the man a cold glance before turning his attention back to the room. He walked slowly and deliberately, the blue fabric of his suit barely making a sound he did, and headed towards the table in the back, not noticing the most of the people behind him were scattering and quickly leaving the room.

Hoji looked up in mid-sentence from Hiruma to who was approaching. His eyes locked onto the man walking next to him and the side of his mouth twitched. His mind was doing the math and realizing that he had made a major miscalculation. Saitou Hajime should not be here yet. His plane wasn't due for another two days. There was supposed to be enough time for Hoji to set things up, get his defense prepared for the tsunami that Tokyo would send his way for what he had done. It didn't matter if his men had succeeded in taking Tokio out or not. Either way, Hoji's fate was clear. He was about to be sliced into tiny little pieces unless…

"Just stop right there," Aoshi voice called, filling the empty room. He held the gun low and steady, pointing it directly at Saitou.

Saitou paused and looked over at Aoshi, a faint glimmer of recognition in his eyes. There was a flash of light and Aoshi blinked, watching as the front end of the gun slowly slid off the back part, completely sliced in two. 

Something in Aoshi's mind cried fowl. That shouldn't be possible. Unless Saitou's blade was sharpened to an atom-thin point and the man possessed an incredible amount of strength… Looking over at Wolf, Aoshi knew it was true. Saitou slowly lowered the blade and brought it down on top of his extended hand.

"Still playing with toy knives," Hoji called, pulling out a gun from his shoulder holster and pushing a cowering Hiruma behind him. "I found something much mo…"

Saitou moved before Aoshi could blink an eye, sending him back over the back of a table and Hoji diving for cover. The full force of the Gatotsu Ishiki hit one of the Bacarrat tables and reduced it to splinters, revealing a cowering Hoji there. The man fired with his gun but the Wolf was already on the move, circling around the room for another attack.

Hoji tried to follow him but the other man's movements were too quick. There was an audible click as the gun clicked empty. Hoji paled and reached for a clip in his belt but Saitou had stopped moving and was slowly walking towards him.

"Come on now," Hoji started, trying to buy time. "It was business you know. It's not like I targeted her before she was your wife. Nothing personal or anything…"

Hoji trailed off, hand with the new clip right at the base of the gun. Saitou moved the blade forward, letting the metal slide between the man's neck and his jacket. It tore through the fabric and Hoji felt the blade pulling upward, forcing him to stand on his feet.

"Now… there's got to be an amount that we can reach…" Hoji started.

Saitou's golden eyes locked on his. While the face displayed no emotion, the eyes told a different story. They told Hoji he was about to meet death… rather painfully.

"Aku. Soku. Zan." Saitou said evenly.

The blade came back quickly and Saitou's stance never moved. A Gatotsu Zeroshiki. If Hoji had a bit of sanity left, he might have realized that he was about to be dispatched by one of the more infamous moves ever developed. But Hoji was just fine being a quivering pile of fear.

There was a blast and Saitou blinked, looking down at his sword hand, watching a thin trail of blood appeared there.

"I won't say it again," Misao said, holding the gun steady, while Kaoru ran over to where Aoshi was. 

"Are you okay?" Kaoru asked.

Aoshi nodded. He stood up with her and unbuttoned his coat, reaching in for the long steel case that he had hidden beneath the folds of the silk white shirt. He was about to tell her to stay down but Saitou moved, leaving Hoji behind for a moment to go after his next target.

To her credit, Misao never flinched. She just fired off round after round and never realized there was no chance she could hit someone as well trained as Saitou. A few seconds later, he was there, blade aiming straight at her as her gun clicked empty.

There was a clash of steel and Saitou looked up, watching Aoshi's steel rod block the move and send up a shower of sparks. The two fell to the left side of Misao, spinning around quickly to face each other.

"You're not the only one who knows where to buy a blade," Aoshi said, grabbing either end of the rod and pulling it apart, letting the damaged sheath fall the ground. Two twin kodachis flashed as the lights above them caught.

Saitou looked at him with the faintest trace of smile. He lunged forward, watching as Aoshi countered with one of the blades and attacked with the other. Saitou ducked, feeling the blade skim just past his shoulder. He pushed his hilt upward, trying to get Aoshi in stomach as the other man attacked but Aoshi counter, blocking it with one sword.

The two combatants spun apart again and Saitou barely had time to blink as Aoshi leapt upward. The six strikes of Kaiten Kenbu Roku Ren were almost simultaneous but six audible clangs echoed in the room. Aoshi completed the spin in the air and turned to face Saitou, knowing he hadn't landed a single blow.

Saitou took his chance and charged, slicing the blade upward and diagonally for the first part of the Gatotsu Nishiki, watching as Aoshi slowly bent backwards to avoid the blow. He brought it down again but got caught as Aoshi brought up his crossed kodachis for a Gokou Juuji. 

The two swordsmen clashed and got stuck with each straining to push against the other. There was a soft click next to Satiou's ear, and one next to Aoshi's. Everyone froze and took in the situation.

Hoji had regained some semblance of calm and was currently pointing a gun at Saitou's temple. But from across the steel blades and standing next to Aoshi, Misao had a reloaded gun pointed at Hoji. Hiruma and Kaoru shot each other a quick glance before drawing their own weapons and pointing it at each other. It was a stalemate. The six people were stuck in the middle of a torn up Baccarat room staring at each other, waiting for the first domino to fall. 

Suddenly something was thrown into the room. It arced in the air and Kaoru got a quick look out of her eye, taking in what it was.

"Flashbang!" Kaoru cried. 

In the few seconds that she called out the item's name and it hit the ground, the situation completely changed. Kaoru ducked and covered, Hiruma fired at empty air. Misao suddenly shot a foot beneath the crossed blades and caught Hoji in a vulnerable place, making the other man fall away in pain. Saitou and Aoshi spared each other a look before pushing apart.

The flashbang exploded and Hiruma was the only one to catch the full effect of it. Momentarily stunned, he spun around, barely seeing the movement around him as people moved through the smoke.

From outside and behind a wall of police shield, Shouzo motioned to the rest of the officers and they charged the room, guns drawn as they searched through the smoky room. But instead of finding dazed criminals they were met with something much stranger.

The room was completely empty.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note:** Hi all! Survived the trials of wedding parties this weekend and I'm slowly recovering from that. 

Anyway, one thing from last chapter that seemed a bit confusing. When I said "Unless Saitou's blade was sharpened to an atom-thin point…" it didn't mean the whole blade was only an atom width. This is just a really poetic way of saying "The blade was really #$@%^@# sharp." ^_^

And wow… rj caught me!! I never explained how Aoshi got so good with a kodachi. So I filled in the gap in this chapter.

Okay, so the craziness begins since chapter 5 is usually my midway point. Enjoy ^_^

* * *

The next morning, the largest suite at the Bellagio looked like a hurricane had swept through it. Megumi sighed as she straightened her suit, looking wistfully back at the two sleeping girls on the king sized bed, Misao sprawled along the bottom with Kaoru curled in a ball at the top. She needed about another five hours worth of sleep herself but that was impossible with all her meetings in the morning. 

Megumi eyed them, a bit of anger in her eyes. It would have been just fine, waking up at the crack of dawn, if Aoshi and the two girls hadn't come stumbling in at a god-awful hour, yelling at each other and about how Saitou was in Vegas and extremely pissed off.

She turned around and saw Aoshi sleeping soundly on the couch, face completely impassive as he lay on his back with fingers laced in the center of his chest. He looked like the dead sleeping like that, Megumi thought as she walked over to the coffee machine. Hopefully he sleeps just as soundly because there was no way she was leaving the suite without a cup of coffee.

She turned on the water and filled the glass carafe with clear, warm water. As she was walking back, she found herself suddenly face to face with something terrifying.

"God! What are you doing looking at me like that?" Megumi demanded.

The taller man looked down at her, normally spiky hair having fallen somewhat flat. His skin was a bit pale and his eyes were completely bloodshot, dark bags around them.

"What… did…" Sano started.

"Excuse me," Megumi said, walking around him, taking the carafe with her, "but some of us are here to do more than just drink and gamble."

He followed her, watching as she tore open the pack of coffee. "What did…" he tried again.

"What did what?" Megumi demanded, turning the machine on.

"What's going on?" Kaoru asked, peeking through the door.

"How should I know?" Megumi asked. "I was just making coffee."

"Don't act innocent!" Sano said, pointing a finger at her. "I know you put something in the water you gave me last night!"

Megumi raised an eyebrow. 

"Megumi!" Kaoru yelled. "You didn't!"

"Oh she did!" Sano retorted. "Kenshin'll vouch for me," he said pointing at the half asleep redhead who had decided at that moment to appear at the door.

"Ah…" Kenshin muttered, trying to think of the best way to get out of this, without having anyone angry with him.

"I just want to know what it was! I looked through everything in the bathroom! I didn't sleep at all… damnit, I want to know what it was!!"

Megumi looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Really, you're being so…"

"A laxative?" Sano asked.

"No," Megumi replied, watching the coffee drip down.

"Birth control pill?"

Megumi snickered. "Nope."

"Prozac?"

"No," she said with a sigh as the coffee stopped dripping.

"What was it!" he demanded.

Megumi sighed and poured the cup of coffee. She looked over at the couch where Aoshi was now sitting up holding his head. Misao appeared at the door, rubbing at her eyes. Everyone was looking at Megumi.

"It was aspirin," she said finally with a sigh. "Really, and here I was just trying to help you with what was probably going to be a killer hangover and you…"

"You did that on purpose!" Sano yelled. "You knew I would think that you…"

"I don't understand, I thought you liked woman who were kind," she said with a shrug.

"Oh… now I get it! You were jealous," Sano said, with a smile, seeing a tiny shred of light that might let him salvage some dignity.

"Hardly," Megumi said, sipping at the coffee. "Why should I care if you and Ken-san want to pick up women?"

Kenshin blinked. Wait a minute… how was he getting dragged into this?

"Wow! You and Himura were picking up chicks last night?" Misao called from the door.

Oh, he thought to himself. This wasn't going to be good. "Now, let's not exaggerate things," Kenshin said, holding up his hands. "There was no…"

"Feh, you are jealous," Sano said, trying to drive the point home. "Don't try to hide it Kenshin. If Megumi doesn't have a problem with it, there's nothing to hide."

"Sano," Kenshin said firmly, "I did not 'pick' anyone up."

"Didn't have to, right?" Sano said with a smile. "The best looking broad in all of Vegas picked him up."

Kenshin frowned slightly. Sure, he felt bad for his friend being toyed with the lady doctor. But he really didn't want to be part of this display of posturing. 

"Go Himura!" Misao called. "What was her name?"

"Misao," Kaoru chastised, "it's none of our business what they do on their free time," she said pushing the girl inside.

"Demo…" Kenshin said, attempting to explain.

"Let them do whatever they WANT!" Kaoru yelled slamming the bedroom door shut. Kenshin's head sank. Well, that couldn't have been much worse. 

Which is when he felt the icy glare on him that could only have come from one source. Turning over, he saw Aoshi's stare and understood that they had apparently both realized that Kaoru was upset. 

* * *

Sano kicked the ground, walking down the same road he had last night. Stupid Megumi, he thought with a frown. She was so damn aggravating! And such a cold fish. Feh, forget her. All she was was a thorn in his side.

He stood in front of the church and looked at the open door. There was something else that was annoying the hell out of him. At least, he was pretty sure he could do something about this.

Walking in to the cathedral, most of his anger started to ebb away. There was peaceful feeling inside the stone walls and by the time he had found someone that looked like a clergy member, most of his anger had settled into a deep frown.

After a few questions, the man had Sano wait while he went to find the sister. Rocking back and forth on his feet, he looked around until he heard the shuffling behind him.

"You're the man for last night," Magdaria said softly.

"Ah… yeah," he said suddenly feeling kind of foolish.

"I was having a cup of tea, please join me," she said walking to the back of the church.

Sano took a seat at the wooden table there and let her serve him a cup of tea. They sat in silence for a moment before Magdaria spoke.

"Thank you for last night," she said. "I know it looked bad, but I was really trying to help that man."

"From what your cop friend said, he's not the type to be helped."

"All people deserve a second chance," she replied. "Don't you agree?"

Sano nodded slightly. He knew all about second chances. He was living one right now. "So that's what you do? Help people."

"It's one of the things I do," she replied with a small smile. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Yeah," Sano said. "Last night, when you said 'peace be with you'… what did you mean?"

"It's something we say in church," Magdaria replied. "But last night… I just had the feeling you need to hear right then. All of us strive for peace… some times we just need to be reminded that we can achieve it."

Sano looked at her, watching her talk when he realized something. She had no eyebrows, no hair on her face. Even from beneath the habit, there was no sign of any hair. 

"It's from the chemotherapy," she said quickly, reading his face. "It makes all the hair fall out after a while."

"I'm sorry," he said softly, looking down at his tea.

"It's all right," she said with a sad smile. "I've come to terms with it. Maybe that's why I some intent on helping everyone while I still can."

She took her tea in her hand and looked out the nearby window. "Do you know what I wanted to name my daughter when I was younger? Irene. It's the Greek word for peace. I thought it would be perfect but…" she trailed off, not needing to say the rest. 

"It is a nice name," he said, struggling to say anything that wasn't offensive or stupid but failing miserably.

"I'm glad you like it," she said, softly. "And I hope you find that peace in your life. Just remember it is possible." She started to stand up but shook her head. "I'm sorry… I get worn out so easily lately."

"It's okay," he said, standing up instead. "I should be going anyway." He pushed his hands into his pockets and started to walk away.

"Peace be with you," she called out.

* * *

Kenshin looked at the man behind the registration area, watching the man flit about as he attempted to deal with everyone at the same time. Kenshin had no real desire for him to move any faster. The longer he was busy with everyone else, the longer Kenshin could avoid what he was about to do.

He knew that this meeting was inevitable, but he had wanted some more time, maybe a chance to check in with a few people around Vegas. But when Kaoru, Aoshi and Misao had stumbled in last night, yelling at each other about how Saitou was around. And he knew they weren't talking about Tokio.

"Mr. Himura?" Kenshin turned around at the English and came face to face with a petit blonde woman. "Mrs. Saitou has asked me to escort you upstairs."

Kenshin looked around, spying the security camera in the wall and nodded. No avoiding this anymore. He followed the girl into a small elevator in the back and waited as it made the long climb to the top of the Luxor. 

At the tip of the glass pyramid, lived one of the true queens of Las Vegas. Seated on a curved sofa, Tokio could have passed for an empress. The dark blue silk kimono spilled over onto the marble floor and she smiled as soon as the younger girl bowed and left Kenshin behind.

"I knew you'd come," she said with a smile.

"This isn't a social visit," Kenshin said firmly. 

"So you won't be sitting with me?" she said with a smile, patting a bare foot on the edge of the sofa.

"And give him a reason to kill me?" Kenshin said pointing into the shadows.

There was a shifting in the darkness before Saitou Hajime walked out, his dark blue suit barely making a noise as he took a seat in the armchair next to his wife.

"Now, now," Tokio said. "You know that would never happen."

"Well, he almost killed a couple of my friends," Kenshin said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh…" Tokio said with a sigh. "Is that what this is about? It was a misunderstanding…"

"Well I wanted to make sure that there were no more misunderstandings," he said firmly, looking at the woman. Saitou shifted slightly next to her but she held up her hand slightly.

"Now, let's not get nasty," she said with a smile. "Hajime was a bit… angry. And his target was never any of your friends." She paused. "Do you know who he was after?"

Kenshin's eye narrowed. "I really don't…'

"Sodojima Hoji," Tokio said, letting silence fill the room as Kenshin processed the name. "That's right," she said watching the emotions play out on his face. "He's here, Yumi's here, it's just one big happy Juppongatana reunion."

"Do you know why they're here?" Kenshin asked.

Tokio's face lit up, like a fisherman who had just reeled in the big one. "We're trying to find out. We thought maybe they were just regrouping but… it's something more than that."

"They're talking with a man," Saitou suddenly broke in. "He's a doctor on a conference here."

Kenshin watched her intensely. "What was his name?"

* * *

"Dr. Von Strasbourg," Megumi said as soon as she caught sight of him.

"Ah… Dr. Takani," the older man said.

"Your lecture was very well done," Megumi said with a small bow.

"Thank you," he nodded. He tried to say more but an assistant was already steering him towards more conference goers. "I guess we'll have to continue this later tonight.

"Of course," Megumi said with a bow. "I'll meet you at the restaurant at seven."

* * *

"His specialty is burn trauma," Tokio said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "He's been pretty clean but… lately he's been depositing large amount into a bank account and meeting with a man called Hiruma."

"I know who that is," Kenshin said grimly.

"Then you know who he works for. Hiruma has also been meeting with someone else. A scientists by the name of Shougo Amakusa, who has been working on a genetic cure for cancer," Tokio stated. "It's for his darling sister, a nun who lives in the area and has been give a few months to live. But he realizes the danger in releasing something before all the failsafes are in place."

"What do the two of them have to do with one another?" Kenshin asked.

"Well, Von Strasbourg is world renowned for keeping burn victims, who should be dead, alive. And if the rest of the scientific community is right, Shoujo's cure will be based on sending commands to certain cells, telling them to either stop growing or to start growing once again."

Kenshin paused, realizing his biology wasn't even at the high school level. Still, it seemed that Tokio was taking him along the right path. If Von Strasbourg could keep someone alive and Shoujo's technique could make things grow again… 

Kenshin brow furrowed and he looked over at Tokio, watching a smile spread across her face.

"That's right," she said. "Someone was burned very badly… but good old Von Strasbourg kept him alive. Now the only problem is repairing the damage." She tilted her head to one side. "Tell me, do you know of anyone who might have suffered some bad burns lately, from falling in a fire let's say."

Kenshin suddenly realized exactly where this path was leading. "It's not possible…"

"Of course it is," Tokio said. "The Juppongatana are not regrouping because they never came apart. They're just here to get the best care for their leader."

* * *

"So Kenshin can't help us either," Misao said, leaning back in the sofa and putting her arms on around the back of her head. "We're running out of people to send undercover," she said unhappily.

"Well it's not like it matter anyway," Kaoru said, straightening out the newspaper in her hand. "Megumi is at the conference and Sano is off sulking somewhere."

"Ah," Misao said, shooting a quick look at Aoshi to make sure he was out of earshot. "Well, he's not the only one sulking."

Kaoru looked up from the article she had been trying to read. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

Misao looked at her skeptically and cleared her throat. "From the morning, and I quote 'Let them do whatever they WANT'… SLAM!" 

"So?" Kaoru said. "What about it?"

"Well, it would have been believable if you hadn't yelled half the sentence and then slammed the door in their faces. So… was there any truth to that picture from the airport."

Kaoru felt her ears go pink. "I don't know what you are talking about," she said firmly. Misao snorted. "It's true!"

"Sure it is… so I guess there's no problem that he's probably off seeing this woman right now."

The paper crinkled slightly in Kaoru's hands. "It's… fine…" she said evenly. "I'm neither of their keepers. What they do is their own business."

Misao arched an eyebrow and paused while Kaoru slowly dismantled the newspaper. "That was a bit more believable but you're going to have to refrain from hurting inanimate objects."

Kaoru looked down at the now mangled paper with a frown.

"What's that about inanimate objects?" Aoshi asked dropping down the plates of food in front of them.

"Eh…I was just asking Misao how you got so good with the kodachis… dad never taught you anything like that."

Aoshi shrugged as he took a piece of toast. "Picked it up during training."

Kaoru raised an eyebrow but Misao nodded. "He's kind of a genius with things like that." Even if he is a complete blockhead when it comes to other things, she added unhappily to herself.

"It's… umm… useful, I guess," Kaoru said.

"Well, I realized that if the yakuza liked to play around with sword," Aoshi said, "it would be a good idea to know how to fight with something like it. You could do something like that too. Your father taught you some kendo."

She raised an eyebrow. "Right," she said. "Well I like my sword wooden and hanging at home but my guns loaded and by my side… seems more effective that way."

There was movement at the door and it opened again. Kenshin walked in and shot a look at the small group sitting in the living room with lunch spread out in front of them.

"Welcome back!" Misao said cheerfully. "Did you have fun on your date?"

Talk about pouring salt in the wound. There were some descriptions Kenshin knew he was never going to escape. Cold blooded killer, ex-yakuza assassin… but there was no way he was adding playboy that list.

"It wasn't a date. It was a meeting," he said firmly, walking over to join them. "With… someone I knew from a long time ago."

"Yakuza connection?" Misao said, suddenly perking up. Aoshi seemed to thaw and even Kaoru perked up.

"Yes," he said. 

"Who was it?" 

Kenshin paused. "I really can't…"

"Saitou Tokio," Aoshi suddenly said. Kaoru and Misao blinked and looked quickly over at him. "It makes sense. Hoji was blubbering about how he hadn't meant anything personal by attacking Saitou's wife. And Sano said the woman was beautiful and pretty much caused the entire casino to stop. It seems to fit in nicely."

Kenshin didn't say anything. He would have been surprised if he didn't know that Aoshi was once the best detective for the Tokyo PD. So there was no hiding it, he just nodded.

"Saitou has a wife?" Kaoru said. Misao looked a bit pale.

"A dangerous woman," Aoshi said. "She's the Hiten representative in Las Vegas. Has her hand in half of the casinos here. The file on her is… impressive."

"Impressive?" Misao asked, a bit of green flashing in her eyes.

Aoshi looked over at her but was saved by the knocking at the door. He made his way over and found a messenger from the hotel there. He took the envelope and headed back inside.

"It's for Megumi," he said, showing them the front.

"Give it to me," Kaoru said, bounding up and snatching it away. "I'll give her a call."

While the rest of the group ate lunch, Kaoru used the phone in the bedroom to call her friend. It took a few rings but Megumi finally picked up her cell phone.

"Hai… moshi-moshi…"

"Megumi! It's Kaoru," she yelled, pressing her hand over her free ear. It was extremely noisy wherever Megumi was. "Someone just delivered an envelope for you!"

There was a pause before Megumi spoke again. "Go ahead and open it."

Kaoru tore open the seal and watched as two small rectangular pieces of paper fell into her lap. She looked at the front and suddenly squealed in delight.

"Kaoru! Don't DO that!" Megumi said on the other end of the phone.

"Sorry… but its tickets to the Master of Illusions show! It's been sold out for months!"

"Who's it from?"

Kaoru unfolded the note inside the envelope. "It's from the conference… a thank you for participating in the conference."

"When's the show?"

"Tonight at 7pm."

Megumi sighed. "Well, I can't go. I have to have dinner with a colleague."

"I can try to change the date for…"

"Never mind," Megumi said. "Just take the tickets and go yourself."

"Really?" Kaoru asked happily. "You don't mind?"

"Not at all. Kaoru, I have to go. I'll talk to you later. Ja ne!" Kaoru hung up the phone and quickly ran back into the living room. 

"So what was that all about?" Aoshi asked.

"Megumi got free tickets to a magic show tonight but she can't go so she said I could have them instead. Isn't that great!"

"How many tickets do you have?" Misao asked.

"Well… only two," Kaoru said, holding them up.

Misao looked at the tickets, did some math and then let out a deep sigh. "Well, I can't go," she said. "Aoshi and I have that thing to do."

"What thing?" he asked.

"That thing… the ultra top secret JIA thing," Misao said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Aoshi said.

Misao rolled her eyes. Blockhead was the word. Better play her trump card. "Fine, I'll just go by myself then. I mean US military defenses were never too tough to get through. All they can really do is fire those submachine guns at you and I can outrun them most of the time."

Aoshi frowned and looked at Kaoru. "Apparently, I have to break into a military base this evening."

"Ah," Kaoru said, holding the tickets and trying not to mangle them as she turned to Kenshin. "Well, do you want to…"

"Oh," he said suddenly realizing without Sano he was the only one left. "Well, if you don't mind…"

"No, no," Kaoru said with a smile, "not at all. I mean, there are two tickets. It'd be a shame to let one of them go to waste."

"Of course," he said with a smile.

Misao was smiling too and suddenly Aoshi got the idea that he just been duped by his partner. 

* * *

Megumi was walking through the convention hall when she spotted Von Strasbourg again. "We have to stop meeting like this," she said with a slight smile as she walked up to him.

"Yes," the older man said. "But we will have dinner tonight."

Megumi was about to say something more when she heard the cell phone in her bag ring. With an apologetic look, she fished it out and answered it. "Hai… moshi-moshi…" she said, covering her ear to block out the sound of the people in the hall.

"Megumi! It's Kaoru. Someone just delivered an envelope for you!"

Megumi frowned and pointed outside to let the other doctor know where she was going. Halfway there, she let Kaoru know to open it. There was a pause as she tore open the envelope and then a sudden high-pitched scream in Megumi's right ear.

"Kaoru! Don't DO that!" Megumi yelled.

"Sorry… but its tickets to the Master of Illusions show! It's been sold out for months!"

"Who's it from?"

"It's from the conference… a thank you for participating in the conference."

"When's the show?"

"Tonight at 7pm."

Megumi sighed. "Well, I can't go. I have to have dinner with a colleague."

"I can try to change the date for…"

"Never mind," Megumi said. "Just take the tickets and go yourself."

"Really?" Kaoru asked happily. "You don't mind?"

"Not at all. Kaoru, I have to go. I'll talk to you later. Ja ne!" 

Megumi sighed. Wonderful, yet another chance to have fun that she was going to miss because of the conference. There were footsteps behind her and she saw Von Strasbourg walking up to meet her.

"Was there a problem?" he asked.

"Not really," she said with a sigh. "Just going to miss a magic show with my friends."

Von Strasbourg's face darkened. "That's too bad," he said. "Excuse me, but I am the one who needs to use their phone. Just wait here a moment."

"Of course," Megumi said, taking a seat on one of the stone benches. She let the warm desert air slowly brow against her face. Las Vegas was nice, she would have to come back and visit once when there was a conference to attend. 

From behind her, she suddenly realized that her colleague was yelling into the phone rather loudly. But it was in German and she had no idea what was going on. And then, just when she thought he would pass out from all the yelling, he snapped the phone shut and walked over to her.

"I'm sorry," he said with a smile. "There was a bit of a misunderstanding."

"I know how that is," she said. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Unfortunately not," he said with a smile. "The mistake was not made by me but rather someone in another organization. You see, you were supposed to get those tickets for tomorrow."

Megumi was nodding at his statement before she realized what he had just said. "What?" she asked.

"The tickets were supposed to be for tomorrow," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the word to be saying. "That way, I could talk to you tonight and see how useful you would be. But now… I have to skip that step."

Megumi stood up just as he pulled out the small pistol, pointing it right at her.

"What the hell is going on?" she demanded just as a limousine came tearing around the corner.

"We need to have a talk about a patient of mine," he said. 

"Absolutely not!" Megumi cried. "I don't know or care who this patient is. There is no way I am going anywhere with you."

The door to the limousine swung open and a cold voice wafted from inside. "Listen to him dear… doctors are easy to replace."

Megumi felt her blood run cold. She turned around and looked inside the car. There sitting stretched out against the back seat was the woman from her nightmares. Yumi. Megumi wanted to run but there was something against her back and she realized that she had just run out of options.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

****

Author's note: Phew… sorry for the delay. Writer's block sucks :P

Quick notes:

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Kyo = Tried to visit your website but all I get is ads. You're more than welcome to post my stuff, just make sure to credit me!

__

JML = Your reviews always make me laugh

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The rest = Suspense and a date, served up warm and toasty for everyone… and yeah, ummm… I know cliffhangers are so nasty but…

***

"I thought that you were lying when you said we had to do this…"

"Well, what else did you have planned to do tonight, beyond tailing Kaoru the entire night."

"…"

"Right, so this should keep your mind off things. Now stop sending me messages, I need to concentrate."

Aoshi frowned, watching Misao's last message come across the tiny screen attached to his wrist. She had said they were going to break into a US army facility but he just assumed it was her way of making him agree to not go with Kaoru to that magic show. He didn't think she actually meant it.

But here he was, sitting on the roof of a US army facility, desperately trying not to get picked out by the well-trained guards that were patrolling the area. He had to wonder if she hadn't begged HQ to give them this mission or just made it up but… well, there was no stopping Misao when she had her mind set on something.

His screen hummed slightly against his arm. Looking down he saw Misao's message. "Coming over." He crouched down and looked around the side of the building, making sure the patrol was out of sight. He sent her a quick message to let her know it was all clear.

Two seconds later, he heard the soft feet running up next to him and Misao knelt down next to him. She tapped two fingers on her sleeve five times. He nodded slowly. There were five patrols of two. That shouldn't be too hard to beat.

Aoshi pointed to the ground where there was a makeshift map drawn on the gravel. Misao made a few X's to show where to patrol was before drawing a path from where they were to the building they needed to get into. Aoshi nodded and they started low on the roof, pausing at the edge of the ceiling and scouting for the patrolmen. 

As soon as it was clear, the two hooked their lines to the gutters that surrounded the building. Slowly, they fell over the side, holding themselves horizontal to the ground before taking off and walking the side of the building.

A patrol came by, walking slowly underneath them and the two stopped, listening to the idle chatter of the soldiers, hoping that they wouldn't think to look up and see two Japanese spies hanging above them. But lucky for Misao and Aoshi, they seemed more concerned with American football than examining the sky.

They disappeared around the corner and Aoshi and Misao continued on their way, rounding the building and slowly lowering themselves to the ground. Releasing the wires, they bolted across the empty gravel road to opposite building, crouching in the shadows.

Misao frowned looking around the corner of her hiding spot. There should be another patrol coming around any second but…

She looked up at Aoshi who was standing behind her. He caught her eye and frowned. Yeah, he realized it too. 

If the situation had been anywhere else, Misao may have been able to stop and enjoy the way Aoshi looked in the half moonlight of the evening. The way his eyes seemed to blend into the shadows. The way his face was etched in stone. He was like a statue of Adonis in a moonlit garden. Of course, this was the middle of an assignment… Misao would never let herself be swayed by an image like this under such dangerous conditions, right?

Well, of course she did. So when he suddenly tapped her arm to ask if she was all right, she had to look away to hide the blush. Someday, she'd have to get him out in moonlight and enjoy that look when she wasn't worried about getting shot to death.

Aoshi's frowned deepened. The patrol was very late. Misao tilted her head back from side to side as she thought and then motioned for him to stay. She was going to check it out.

Snaking along in the shadows, Misao put all her training to work. There was no way anyone would see her. She was silent as a lion stalking its prey. She was quick as a cheetah across the savanna. She was…

The alarms sounded and light flooded the base. Armed soldiers began running through the gravel tracks, clenching their rifles tightly.

She was completely screwed.

***

Kaoru's hands worked around the compact as she stared into the mirror. This was so stupid, she thought to herself. What are you getting worked up over anyway? This was Kenshin… Kenshin who has been living with you for almost half a year now. This is a big deal.

Kaoru snickered, casting a look at the destroyed bed. Most of Megumi and Misao's belongings had been dumped there as well. Kaoru's head hit the dresser with a sigh. Feh… who was she kidding.

She stood up and looked in the mirror. Cute little flower sundress, check. Hair up with cute bow, check. Okay, she was ready. This was not a big deal, this was going to be just…

There was a soft knock on her door and Kaoru jumped. "Kaoru-dono? Is everything okay?"

"Fine!" she called out.

"It just sounded like there were lots of things being thrown around and…"

Kaoru opened the door and quickly stepped outside. No need to let him see the mess inside and making him think that she was actually worried about this or anything.

"Gomen," she said with a slight smile as she stared at the ground. "I guess I knocked into the dresser one to many ti…"

Ah… poor Kaoru. She made the mistake of looking up. And suddenly her courage and her sanity linked hands together and skipped off to play in a field of violets while the rest of her just stopped and stared. The expression 'cleans up nice' suddenly took on new meaning. Long black coat to past his knees, nice pair of black slacks with soft black shoes and a dark purple shirt that seemed to bring out his eyes. 

"Eh…" Kaoru finally managed, quiet unable to make a coherent statement or at least recognize a similar look on his face. "Show," she finally managed. "Need to leave…"

"Right," he said with a nod. 

And two minutes later, when they had collected their wits, they finally left.

***

Sano made it back to the hotel about ten minutes after everyone had left. He collapsed on the sofa with a sigh. At least the place was quiet. It would give him a chance to sort out his thoughts. 

The meeting with Magdaria plagued him. He had gone to see her for a resolution and only come with more questions. And he must have sounded like such an idiot! What the hell was he supposed to say? Ah… sorry you're dying?

He walked over to the minibar and thought about opening it, hearing Megumi's yells in the back about how overpriced it was. Feh, fox lady could shove it. He needed a drink. 

Three mini bottles later, Sano realized this really wasn't helping. Worse, he was going to border on alcoholic if he started drinking by himself. Where the hell was everyone anyway?

The phone rang and he reached over to grab it.

"Hai, moshi… eh, hello," he said quickly remembering he needed to use English here.

"Gomenasai," came the distinctly Japanese voice in return. "But is Dr. Takani there?"

"No," Sano replied quickly, "haven't seen her."

There was a pause. "This is her associate, Dr. Mitsui. She was supposed to meet me for a lecture but she hasn't shown up."

"Maybe she's just late," Sano said.

"Well the lecture was over an hour ago… so I got worried and called the restaurant she was supposed to have dinner at and they said neither her nor her companion had shown up."

Sano paused and put a hand to his head. Well that meant Megumi was probably missing for about three to five hours. It didn't seem like much, normal for most people… but not for someone as schedule conscious as Megumi.

"All right," Sano said, standing up. "I'll go look for her." He took down Mitsui's number and promised to call the moment he found anything.

With a curse and sigh, Sano grabbed his jacket, leaving the hotel suite behind him. Even when she wasn't near by, she was still a royal pain in his ass. More importantly, where the hell was he supposed to look? 

There was no point in walking around the casinos, Megumi wouldn't be gambling. The bars were out too, she wouldn't go by herself. He checked at the front desk for any messages but there were none.

He frowned and headed for the door. This wasn't his backyard. If it was Tokyo, he'd be able to pull a few strings but like this… 

He started to walk back to the cathedral, knowing that Magdaria had that cop friend. Maybe she could convince him to help Sano look for Megumi. Right now, that was the only thing he could think of.

***

Kenshin looked over at Kaoru with a smile. He didn't remember her ever looking quite as pretty as she did right now. It wasn't just the dress, the hair and the make-up, it was the absolute look of joy on her face as she watched the masked magician perform feats on the stage.

Kenshin watched it with half interest. The show was good but nothing that he hadn't seen before. The masked magician made whole cars disappear from the stage with a flourish. He turned his assistant into a tiger and then back again. 

"Ne, Kenshin?"

Kenshin blinked and looked over at Kaoru with a questioning look. 

"Is anything wrong?" she asked.

"No," he said quickly with a smile.

"You just look like you're not having fun," she said with a slight frown.

His mind scrambled for a good answer. "Gomen Kaoru-dono, I guess I am thinking too hard about how he does all those tricks."

Kaoru's frown disappeared and was replaced with a smile. She hit him playfully on the arm. "Stop thinking! It's magic, remember?"

He looked at her with a slight smile. "Hai… magic."

She blinked and turned back to the stage just as the magician was gearing up for the finale. The magician came to the center of the stage and did a few bows, motioning for the crowd to calm down.

"For my final trick," he said, "I will need a victim from the audience." There were assorted chuckled. "Now if my magical spotlight will pick out the right person…"

There was an excited hush as a light rushed through the crowd, flying over most of the people before finally settling on…

Kaoru let out an excited cry and jumped up, waving to the people. Talk about luck!

"Say good-bye to your companion because I'm about to make you disappear into the void…"

The ominous music started and the magician's assistant walked down off the stage to get Kaoru. She shot Kenshin an excited look as the assistant took her arm. With a small wink at him, she let herself be taken away.

Kenshin sat back in the seat, wishing he had a camera. Not that he wouldn't remember this moment forever. It was funny, but in the six months that they had lived together, they had gotten used to just being friends and housemates, settled into a rut. But tonight was different. He was almost glad poor Megumi was bogged down with work and couldn't make it.

Kaoru waved one more time before they stuck her in the glass tube and it slowly raised up off the ground. Kenshin raised an eyebrow. Well this was different. He'd have to ask her what happened when she was done.

The glass cylinder was now suspended above the ground with its top still completely visible to the audience. The magician brought around a velvet curtain, completely encircling the cylinder. In a second, Kaoru was gone from sight. The music began to climb to its climax, the lights flashed and the magician pointed at the tube, making motions with his hand while his assistant stood nearby. 

Suddenly velvet curtain fell to the ground and the glass cylinder stood suspended in the air, filled with water but no Kaoru. The audience went wild of course and even Kenshin had to clap. That was a pretty neat trick.

The magician bowed and the show ended. People began to file out and Kenshin sat still, deciding they'd probably bring Kaoru back her as soon as everyone was gone. But after five minutes of sitting in the empty theater, Kenshin got up and walked outside.

He asked a few of the usher but they all shook their heads. They were just traffic control, they had no idea how the show operated.

With a frown, Kenshin headed backstage, not getting far before he had to deal with security. He explained the situation and the security guard made a few calls but came up with nothing.

This was not the time to get worried, he realized. Kaoru was fine, she was just waiting somewhere for him. He just needed to…

His feet came to a stop as he recognized the familiar face at the end of a line of slot machines. Kenshin read the look of Saitou's face and realized that the other man knew exactly where Kaoru was.

And it wasn't someplace good.

***

Misao crouched down, hiding herself as best she could. But the way things were going she knew it was fruitless. How had they been caught? They had been so careful the entire time. There was no indication that…

It suddenly occurred to Misao that no one was stopping to arrest her. In fact, they weren't stopping anywhere near her. They were tearing up the road and trying to get to the other end of the compound.

Misao paused, waiting for them to all pass her before she headed back to Aoshi. But before she could even look over her shoulder, Aoshi had grabbed her hand and was starting to drag her away from where ever everyone else was going.

"Hang on a second!" she called out.

"No," Aoshi said firmly. "I had bad feeling about this before we came here. And if there is something that could make this camp that excited, I don't think we should stay around to find out what it is."

"Killjoy," Misao muttered but didn't protest. He was probably right. I mean, those soldiers had looked really determined as…

The camp behind them suddenly exploded. The building that was covering their retreat was gone and whether they wanted to see the source of the problem or not was no longer an option.

A huge tank rolled towards the burning rubble, not effected at all by the rapid machine gun fire of the army troops. The tank came to a stop and the top began to turn towards the soldiers.

"Run… run…" Misao was saying as she watched the soldiers still firing uselessly. And thankfully, someone called the retreat and the soldiers started to back away. But the tank obviously had rockets that could level a building. There was no way those army guys were going to survive an attack.

Misao wrenched her arm free of Aoshi hand and turned quickly on her heel, running straight towards the tank, pulling out a few things from her pocket. Aoshi's face fell as he watched her take off and not even answer his yells.

Misao watched the tank, seeing the top slowly come to a stop and turn back towards her. That's right, she thought to herself. I am a hell of a lot more dangerous than those retreating soldiers are. But you're too slow, and you'll never catch me.

The top suddenly flipped open and someone poked their head out. Misao skidded to stop, her feet feeling every grain of gravel as she slid across the road. She went to dodge to left, but didn't have the momentum to turn fast enough. The machine gun the tank rider was holding was going to catch her.

There was a push from her side and Misao's feet left the ground for a moment as she and Aoshi went crashing into a window and into the safety of a building.

"Are you crazy?" he yelled and Misao blinked. Raising his voice at her was very uncharacteristic for him.

"I just thought that…"

"Thought? There was no thinking involved in what you just did! No one thinks that they can take on a fully armored TANK!" 

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

He paused and let out a sigh. Great, just great. He hated losing his temper. But for whatever reason, when it came to Misao, it was like Kaoru all over again. Why the hell did all the women in his life seem intent on making him insane with worry?

  
"Just forget it," he said.

Misao started to say more but the broken glass around them started to move. Looking up out of the shattered window, they saw the side of the tank, painted with the letters F.U.J.I. come into view. The nozzle of the gun pointed into the room and they both froze.

Misao went for weapons, knowing it was a lost cause but determined to go out with a fight. But before she could do anything, she was pinned to the ground, completely covered by Aoshi's body just as the rocket was fired into the room.

***

"How did you know?" was Kenshin's first question when he got into the limo.

Tokio smiled slightly. "Does it really matter?"

Kenshin frowned deeply, his eyes taking on a rather dangerous glare.

Tokio's smile dropped a bit. "We knew that someone, not the conference organizers, sent the ticket to Megumi and that the magician was under Juppongatana payroll. We figured she would be the target but they already got her."

Kenshin's tunnel vision wavered for a second. "What about Megumi-dono?"

"Kidnapped. Too fast for us to move though. We were hoping that the magician would still make a move so we could catch him. And he did."

"Do you know where Kaoru-dono is?"

"Of course, we slipped a tracking device in her drink."

Kenshin's look got a bit more dangerous and even Tokio was beginning to wonder if maybe this was a really bad idea. But she maintained her sense of calm, shooting a look over at her husband to relay the same message to him. 

"How long," he asked.

"It'll take two minutes to get there," she said calmly. Looking over to his left, she forced Kenshin to follow her eyes. There, resting on the seat next to him, was his sword. He picked it up and didn't bother to check to see if she had slipped him a real sword again. At this moment, he could care less.

***

"I told you before," Megumi said, crossing her hands over her chest. "I will not participate in this."

"You are very stubborn," Von Strasbourg said. "Do you have any idea of who you are refusing?"

"Yes. My friends are the ones who made him like that. And when they get here, they're going to probably do the same to you."

His eyes narrowed but the older man didn't push the matter. With a nod, he got the two goons to drag Megumi through the sterile hallways until they reached a large room. There, emerged in a gel like liquid was the man Megumi wished she had never met. Makoto Shishio. Worse than that, if the machines by his head were any indication, he was still alive.

"I have managed to maintain him," Von Strasbourg was saying, "but the internal damage from the fall was severe, we needed machine to keep him alive. He hasn't been strong enough for surgery until now."

"You're crazy," Megumi said firmly.

"And you're the only one who can repair this type of damage. You've done it before in the hospital. Massive trauma from car crashes or high falls, even gunshot wounds to vital organs. You fix it and there's only a short recovery time."

"I won't do it," she said. "I won't help that monster get back on the streets again."

"Well then," Yumi said, suddenly walking in the room, "I guess we'll have to give you some… motivation."

She pulled out a remote and the screen to Megumi's left lit up. It took her a moment but Megumi suddenly understood what she was being shown.

In a glass cylinder, Kaoru lay curled up, unconscious and unaware of what was happening to her. There was a man walking around next to her, his long face painted white.

"That is Udo Jin-e. He's not part of our group but for the right price, he'll work for anyone. And he has such… unique ways of killing people."

Yumi picked up the cell phone by her side and dialed a number. On the screen, Jin-e picked up his own phone. Yumi uttered a few words and the figure on the screen nodded. He walked over and turned a spigot. A fresh cascade of water suddenly came down, striking Kaoru and startling her into consciousness.

"What…what are you doing?" Megumi asked, her heart starting to freeze.

"Drowning your friend, of course," Yumi said with a smile. "I'd say she has about five minutes before that cylinder fills up. That should be long enough for you to make up your mind."

"You… you can't be serious!"

"Very serious," Yumi said with a smile. Turning to Megumi, she locked eyes with the petrified woman. "Four minutes, forty seconds and counting."

***

Kaoru woke up and found herself shaking. What the hell happened? She remembered the stage, the cylinder, and the smoke filling the air… had that been part of the trick? She paused, looking down at her dress and finding it surprisingly wet. She looked up and suddenly realized there was water falling on her from above.

She stood up and looked outside the cylinder. The magician was there, his back turned to her. She tapped on the glass to get his attention and fell back the moment he turned around. The mask was gone and what was underneath was completely terrifying.

It suddenly occurred to Kaoru that this was not part of the trick. She was in real danger. Looking down, she realized the water was already reaching her ankles. There was no time to wonder how she had gotten in this situation. She just needed to figure away out.

Trapped in the cylinder underneath a torrent of water, Kaoru never heard the commotion happening outside. But she saw her captor moving around and collecting something. By the time he was done, the water was already up to her calves.

The guards at the front door never stood a chance. By the time the limo rolled around, the sunroof was down and Tokio was standing through it, picking them off like fish in a barrel. The car hadn't even stopped when the door flew open and Kenshin walked up, letting the sword fall by his side.

Tokio pulled herself out by the sunroof and slid down the roof of the car into the waiting arms of Saitou. She frowned at him.

"He's… different, isn't he?" she said. And Saitou could only nod.

Inside, a few of Jin-e's guards were attempting to slow Kenshin down but fell with the first strike of his sword. From their vantage point in the doorway the Saitous could only watch.

"I'm kind of glad I gave him the reverse blade this time," Tokio said softly.

Jin-e looked up as the door opened. Strange… he should have had more time. A brief look through the rapidly closing door showed Jin-e all needed to know. The man had gotten through his lackeys like they were straw dummies.

There was a pounding on the glass and Kenshin stole a glance at the cylinder, instantly seeing Kaoru there and watching the water slowly inching upwards.

"Ah the great Battousai," Jin-e said, drawing a sword. "How I dreamed of fighting a yakuza assassin like you with weaponry like…"

"Turn off the water," Kenshin said evenly.

Jin-e blinked. He hadn't really expected that response. "Ah, worried about the young lady. Well she still has about three minutes of left to live."

Kenshin rested his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword and locked eyes with the other man. "That's more than enough."

Jin-e's first mistake was to under-estimate his opponent. His second was to taunt him with the length of time Kaoru had to live. His third was to blink because in the time it took his eyes to close and then open again, his opponent was already half way there.

The sword clashed and Jin-e was pushed back to the wall. But the magician turned assassin was not a novice at this. He used the momentum and pushed himself off the solid background, hurtling himself towards Kenshin.

There was no clash of steel this time. Jin-e had land a blow, a small trail of red was appearing through the torn fabric on Kenshin's arm. Jin-e smiled. In the silence that followed, he thought he had managed to unnerve his foe. And here I thought he would be a challenge, Jin-e thought. But I struck the first blow, and he didn't even hit me.

Suddenly Kenshin brought the sword up and resheathed it, pausing for a moment before he clicked it back into place. At the sound, Jin-e's sword shattered into a hundred pieces. Jin-e watch in amazement, realizing that all of Kenshin's attack had been concentrated on his blade. Kenshin had let himself be cut so he could get close enough.

And now, with only a hilt, Jin-e was faced with a rather angry opponent. He scowled. Taking the hilt, Jin-e turned, slamming it in between the spokes of the spigot. With a devilish grin he turned back to Kenshin.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed. Jin-e had just jammed the water on. The white faced man smiled, watching the man kneel down for the next attack. There was only hatred in his opponent eyes and Jin-e knew he was about to be killed. But what a way to go.

There was pounding behind him and Kenshin blinked, turning quickly to find that the water had now reached Kaoru's neck. She was yelling his name, trying to get his attention and shaking her head vehemently at what he was about to do. He blinked again and suddenly came back to normal, running up to the glass case and trying to push it over with his shoulder.

"I can't turn it off," Tokio yelled as she pushed against the spigot. "He jammed it completely!"

Jin-e laughed but didn't move as the long sword of Saitou was pointed at his throat. He looked at Saitou with a smile but the Wolf didn't move. No matter how much he wanted to wipe that smile off his face, Saitou knew they needed him alive.

Kenshin's attempt to push over the case were not working and he suddenly realized that there was no air inside anymore. Kaoru looked out, her blue eyes trying not to look afraid as she felt the weight on her chest increase. 

"Stand aside!" Tokio called. "I can shot the glass out!" She aimed at the glass as soon as he was clear and fired. Kaoru curled up into a ball in the water to protect herself but another ever came through the glass. The bullets had barely chipped the surface.

"I'll get the car, we'll run it through," she said starting to leave but knowing there was no time. Kaoru hadn't moved since the shots had finished firing.

Tokio took two steps when she felt it. It pushed her against the wall. Even Saitou faltered, falling backwards, his blade falling back with him. The misfortunate Jin-e fell forward as well, careening towards to Saitou and consequently impaling himself on the blade, dying there with a somewhat satisfied grin.

The force they had felt was only from the small fraction of power that had been produced when Kenshin drew his sword. If it had sent them flying into the wall, there was no question about what was about to happen to the glass case.

The full force of Dou Ryu Sen devastated the glass tube, shattering it into so many piece that when it came apart, it was impossible to tell what were water droplets and what were glass shard. 

Cushioned from the blast by the water, Kaoru was largely unhurt as she fell forward. Somehow through the haze of water and glass, Kenshin managed to catch her with his free arm, quickly dropping his sword to secure her next to him. They fell back, pushed by the water backwards until he hit the ground, cushioning her from the blow.

It took him a moment to regain his composure from the fall but he sat up quickly, looking down at her to see if she was okay. 

Her hands clenched at his shirt as she started to cough, a pathetic sound between choking and crying, but it was enough to show that she was breathing. He wrapped two arms around her protectively and just stayed like that for a minute.

And then slowly he looked over at the Saitous, his face saying everything that had wanted to hear. There was no question about whether he would help them bring down the Juppongatana again. Not now that they had made this personal.

Megumi would have been happy to see the scene end this way. But she never saw the conclusion. It took only ten seconds more before she had agreed to do whatever Yumi wanted.

***

Sano frowned as he walked up to Cathedral. Something was right here… he thought. The door was wide open but no lights were coming from inside. With a cautious look around, he quickly stole across the grass lawn, stopping at the door before moving inside.

The only lights were the few remaining candles that wavered as he passed them and made his way to the back. He should have gotten out and called the police right away. But images of that drug dealer and the weakened Magdaria were in his mind. Between her and Megumi, he doubted he'd have any peace at all that night.

And it turned out he was right. Just as he rounded the corner to the small room in the back that Magdaria occupied, he felt the cold kiss of steel at his forehead.

"Damn," he cursed, looking over and catching the face in the dark. "Oh… crap," he cursed again, recognizing the face.

It was no drug dealer, no petty thief but the rather recognizable face of that cross-dressing Juppongatana member, Kamatari. He frowned and looked over, seeing that Magdaria had already been caught by Cho. So this is where these two disappeared to after they escape prison in Japan.

"Don't worry," he said to Magdaria, "everything will be f…"

Kamatari's blow caught him in the temple and he went down before he could finish his sentence. That's what happens when you try to lie in church.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: Okay… I read through this at least three times and I'm sure there are still mistakes. It's just one of those days when the grammar bug has bitten you in the ass and made you stupid, what can I say?

JML : Fruit Baskets rocked… the scene with Ayame and the wedding dress… I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Kyo : The page is cute now that I can see it ^_^ Thank you again for hosting my stuff.

Tenshineko : I can never tell the difference myself until I need to. One is the bodyguard of Magdaria though.

Blue Jeans : Your comment inspired a part of this story (you'll see it when you get to it)

Phoenix : I can do twisted… you know I can ^_^

To the rest, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Here's the update a bit later than normal but hopefully it's okay.

***

Tokio walked out of the building, the warm desert breeze catching her long coat and blowing the back of it up like a peacock's tail. The setting sun reflected over the small silver sunglasses she wore and gave an orange-red sheen to her porcelain face. With a frown, she ejected the empty cartridge out of her gun and walked towards the limo. Interrogating the survivors had proven useless. Either they really didn't know where the Juppongatana were holed up or they weren't going to tell her. Either way, they were just stains on the floor now.

The limo door opened and Kenshin walked out, catching Tokio's glance. She shook her head.

"Nothing," she said, voicing what she had just motioned. The ex-assassin nodded. "How's the girl?"

"Asleep."

Tokio nodded, trying to hide a smile. It was interesting to see him reacting like that to a woman. This girl… Tokio really wanted to get to know the one who had broken his shell. Saitou walked out and took a standing position next to her, arms crossed and shaking his head. For a moment, finding the connection for a video feed had seemed like a possible clue but…

"Great," Tokio sighed. "We can't trace the signal back to its source. No one left standing would tell us anything. I know they can't be in town… nothing goes on here without me knowing about it. Besides they'd need too much, medical supplies and equipment, things like that. Someone would have noticed it. We have no leads."

"The desert."

The three people standing outside the car turned their attention to the open door. Inside huddled under a blanket, Kaoru looked at the floor of the limo very much awake and putting things together in her mind.

"I spoke to Megumi maybe three hours ago," Kaoru continued. "Even if they took her right afterwards, they only had three hours to get her somewhere. I saw a map of the area and it's all small towns, Lake Mead and desert. A facility in a small town would stick out like a sore thumb. Lake Mead is too populated. But somewhere in the desert, maybe they could build their own facility. The US government does it all the time, makes underground bases. They're very hard to find. But if we flew above it, we might be able to see something. Even a base underground has to have an entrance above ground."

Kaoru blinked and looked up at the three faces outside. "Get me a helicopter and I'll find the place. It's what I do for a living."

"But, Ka…" Kenshin started.

"I'm not stupid," Kaoru said. "I know who's behind this. And if Megumi's in trouble with them…" she paused and looked up, past Kenshin to the Saitous. 

Tokio smiled slightly. Oh yes, she really liked this girl. "I've got just thing… if you're up to it."

"No, she's not," Kenshin interrupted, moving towards the open door. "She's going back to the…" But there was suddenly a tug at his arm and he looked down, watching Kaoru look up at him and seeing something familiar there. That feeling of fear that he had the second he realized she was in trouble. Kaoru was feeling the same thing for Megumi. He didn't want to let her go but…

But Tokio was already stepping into the limo while Saitou relayed orders to the driver. Kenshin had made the decision to get involved and he should have known something like this would happen. So he got in, without another word of protest and took a seat next to Kaoru. She smiled slightly before she fell asleep again, slowly falling onto his shoulder.

***

Aoshi felt bad. Worse then he had in awhile. Of course, that's what happens when a building falls on you. Still, feeling bad meant you were alive, right? Turning to his side and feeling the muscles scream in protest, he had to wonder if that was a good thing.

Through half closed blue eyes, Aoshi took in his surroundings. They were sparse. A small room with a cot and a sink. And bars on the door. Hmmm… it wasn't really hard to guess where he was.

He pushed himself into a seated position, feeling his head swim and seeing an explosion of stars in front of him. He started to fall to one side but caught himself quickly, suddenly feeling pain in his arm. He held it up in front of him and noticed, rather unhappily that it was completely bandaged. Broken? Probably.

He stood up and walked to the bars, looking out into the dimly lit hallway. There were a few cells near him but they were all empty. Where was Misao? Maybe she hadn't gotten caught. Maybe she had run away. He frowned. No, she wouldn't have run away and left him behind. 

He felt something grip him in the chest. If she hadn't run away and she wasn't here… did something else happen? Was she… was she…

Before his mind could play out the worst possible scenarios, the hallway exploded with harsh fluorescent light. Looking down, he saw the door had swung open and three figures emerged from outside, walking towards him. Two of them were tall men dressed in well-pressed uniforms; one was carrying a large black box. The third was easy to distinguish. She barely came up to either of their shoulders, her own camouflage was in stark contrast to their decorative uniforms. 

He realized right away that something was wrong. It wasn't so much that the US Army had caught them. Or the look she shot him that had said "we're screwed". It was the fact that her outfit was completely clean. There wasn't a speck of dust on it. 

"Shinomori, Aoshi," one of the soldiers said evenly. "You are an agent for the Japanese Intelligence Agency. You were caught trespassing on a US Military base, a base which I might add was just destroyed by a foreign tank."

Aoshi was silent, looking over unhappily at Misao. His feeling of dread was not diminishing.

"However, based on testimony from several soldiers, you apparently took upon yourselves to draw attention away from the retreating troops so they could escape. And for that, we don't believe you were part of the tank group. But that doesn't mean that we can forget that you broke several international treaties by breaking into our facility."

The soldier sighed. "I thought this would guarantee me a promotion. I thought I might finally make it out of the desert hell. But of course, when we went to report this, we were informed that the top brass already knew about this. Tell me… did you know what you were after?"

Aoshi frowned. To be honest, no. Misao had said it was on a need to know basis and that had been enough for him. She was the one who was going to do the extraction in the end. He was just cover.

The soldier looked over to Misao and she nodded. Turning to the other officer, she took the large metal box from him and put it on the ground, opening it up. Inside were two ceramic cups and a large bottle of sake.

There should have been a face fault, there should have at least been an eyebrow twitch, a little clenching of the fist, a sweat drop even. But this was Aoshi and he could just take it in stride, burying it in the back of his mind somewhere to use as fodder for a future fight.

"Sake," he finally settled on as a response, making sure his voice didn't betray any emotion.

"Sometimes, foreign governments let us try to break into their facilities to test security," Misao said. "Okina had mentioned something a while back and…"

"Well," the soldier said, "I'm afraid to admit that if it hadn't been for the second group breaking into the facility that night, you would have succeeded without any problems. If you had been here a week earlier, maybe we could have prevented what happened.

"Exactly what did happen?" Aoshi asked.

"The Juppongatana broke into the facility to steal something," Misao said. 

"It was an experimental missile," he stated. "There was no payload stolen so we believe they already have a payload of their own in mind."

"Exactly what does this missile do?" Aoshi inquired cautiously.

"It's remote controlled, undetectable to RADAR and was designed to deliver the payload without being destroyed."

Aoshi began to understand. The missile itself was almost like a bomber plane. But there were two questions that still plagued him. One was what exactly did the Juppongatana have for a payload. Second was… why hadn't they let him out of the jail cell. He decided that they could provide an answer to at least the second question.

"Your partner suggested it actually," the soldier replied.

"Since we're used to dealing with the Juppongatana, Okina offered to lend us to the army for their operation," Misao started. "Only… well, you're kind of hurt."

It all clicked. The clean uniform that should have been dirty from the collapsing building. But no, she had gotten a new one and was planning…

"No," he said firmly.

"It's sort of already been decided," Misao said.

"Then undecide it," he replied, realizing his response almost sounded like something she would say. "You are not going alone."

She waved her hand. "I used to do this all the time before we met. And I'll have some US guys as back up."

"No."

The soldier sighed. "I can see why you thought this would be a good idea."

"Just let him out as soon as I get there," Misao said, turning to the soldier.

"Misao!"

"All right, we can do that."

"Misao, you listen to me…"

"Don't worry," Misao said with a smile turning back to him. "They've got a nice computer hook up. You can help me out from here."

"Misao!"

"The transport will be here any second," the soldier said. Misao nodded and the three of them walked away, leaving Aoshi to yell out her name a few more times in frustration.

***

It was like after a real bad drinking binge… only worse. He didn't want to throw up. He just wanted the room to stop spinning and his head to stop screaming in pain. He could almost feel the bump growing beneath the spiky hair where they had hit him.

Looking around, he took in his surroundings, cursing every time his head turned. It was an empty white room. He couldn't even tell where there was a door. He tried to stand up but realized his feet were bound, as were his arms. 

Great, all he needed was some padding on the wall and he'd be all set. 

He slid his way over to the wall, deciding it would be a good idea to at least look for an exit. Of course with his arms tied like this the only thing he could do was kick at the wall and try to hear if it was hollow behind.

He had planted a few well-placed kicks before he heard something on the other side of the room. Cursing, he slid over to the other side of the room to see what was going on. Halfway there, he recognized the voice.

"Oi… Magdaria," Sano called out.

"Yes, it's me."

"You okay?"

"I think so."

"So that rooster-head really did get himself caught."

Sano's face faulted and his eyebrow started to twitch. That voice… he recognized that voice. It was not a good voice to recognize though.

"Megitsune," Sano called out. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I think that's a question you should answer first. I know why I'm here, Magdaria has a good idea why she's here but we can't figure out why they would want you."

"Do you have to answer ever question with an insult!" Sano yelled.

"It was a simple question…"

"With a dozen insults buried in it. Look, I don't know why I'm here, okay?" Sano called. "I was with Magdaria and the shit hit the fan, end of story."

"I'm so sorry Sagara-san…I didn't mean to involve you…"

"Great move rooster, you went and upset her again."

Sano's eyebrow twitched. In the blink of an eye, he saw all his possible responses to this and realized that they all led back to him being a bastard.

"I'll look for a way out, so just stay calm for a bit…" he started.

There was movement on the other side of the wall. Sano fell silent as he listened and tried to determine what the muffled voices were saying. But they were speaking too softly for him to make anything out. Finally there was only silence.

"Sagara-san?"

"What happened?" Sano said. "Where's Megumi?"

"They took her away. I don't know but they seemed rather upset."

Sano cursed and began to slide back around the wall, kicking at it and looking for a way out. Finally, he heard the telltale echo of space behind the wall. Lying on his back, he brought his straightened legs to his face and worked his hands around the back of them, moving the bound hands from his back to his front.

Cursing about the number of muscles he had just pulled, Sano caught his breath before reaching forward and slowly working the knots with his fingers. It was a pain in the ass and colorful expressions were coming from his mouth. But he continued and finally put Harry Houdini to shame with his escapist skills. 

Still his hands were still bound together. Sano took a step back, clenched both hands into fists and used a double-handed punch to obliterate the door. He looked down the empty hallway and quickly turned back towards the room. One of the hinges had snapped off and broken in such a way that after a minute of sawing at the ropes his arms were free.

Without a second thought he turned right, heading down the empty hallway.

***

The helicopter's blades started to spin and the feet slowly picked up off the ground. A second later it was gone, leaving the tower of the casino in its wake. From his back seat, Kenshin was doing anything but enjoying the view. He didn't like the situation for several dozen reasons. But every time he went to bring one up, it took one look from Kaoru or Tokio to tell him it was a useless argument.

Kenshin looked over at the man sitting next to him. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn Saitou was smiling at the way the women had whipped Kenshin into the back of the helicopter. The thought didn't improve his mood.

He didn't understand it. Kaoru was obviously distraught about what had almost happened but she wanted, more like demanded, to be allowed to help. Sure it was Megumi that was involved but… it was something more than that. The way she had just come up with this idea, she was determined to find the people responsible.

Kenshin sighed. He was beginning to understand Aoshi's position. Kaoru was the type of person who was so determined to do her job and help others that she could really get herself hurt. Aoshi would have to watch over her all the time to make sure things didn't go wrong. 

Tokio was humming softly and looking out of the window at the ground. She watched the lights of Las Vegas suddenly melt into desert, dotted only by the occasional dirt road. Night was falling quickly, the sun rapidly edging towards the horizon.

"How far do you think they got?" Tokio yelled into the mic.

Kaoru paused for a minute. "Well, I'm assuming they used land transportation… with the dirt roads, they might be able to do fifty miles an hour, faster if they had SUVs or something like that. That's about 150 mile radius."

"Shorter than that," Tokio said. Kaoru turned to look at her but Tokio shook her head. Sure, Tokio was cold as ice sometimes but there was no reason to be cruel. Better Kaoru didn't realize her near drowning was being broadcast live. 

That meant they needed to get Megumi to where they were so she could see the show. "Two and a half hours. So 125 miles," Tokio stated firmly.

She looked around before finally retrieving a book of maps. Flipping through to the right page, she pulled some lipstick out of her pocket and drew an estimated circle of the search area.

"Go east," she said. "And north. There are national parks in the other directions." The helmet nodded and the helicopter banked slightly as Kaoru brought it about to the right direction.

Thirty minutes had passed without a word among the passengers when Kaoru suddenly dipped the helicopter nose down.

"Found something?" Tokio asked.

The helmet nodded and pointed to her left. "There's a dirt road down there. I want to see where it leads." The helicopter followed the winding path down the open desert. 

From his vantage point, Kenshin could see that this was probably what they were looking for. The tire tracks on the road hadn't been swept away by the desert winds yet. This road was used recently.

"I think we should land," he started, "and look on…"

The helicopter suddenly pulled up and banked sharply, sending most of the occupants to the right side of the craft. Kenshin watched as something streaked by. So much for taking the safe approach.

"They must have seen us coming," Tokio said unhappily. "But what just passed us?"

"Two helicopters," Saitou said evenly from the back. "Smaller and faster than us."

"They're coming back this way," Kaoru said looking out the rear view mirror. She waited until they were close and dipped down quickly. But it wasn't fast enough to avoid the hail of bullets that bounced of the helicopter's blades.

Tokio frowned and took of her seatbelt. "Can you hold this thing steady? Even if they're coming right at us?" Kaoru nodded firmly and Tokio stood up, throwing open the door. But some act of God, Kaoru kept true to her word though she really wasn't expecting the other woman to do that. 

Tokio pulled out her gun and wrapped a foot around the seat's legs and leaned outward, pressing her body onto the edge of the door. The wind blew something fierce and Tokio realized she had miscalculated. This was not like shooting from the sunroof of a car.

However, Tokio was just one piece of the puzzle and without having to be asked Saitou had climbed into the front to steady her. Without having to worry about not falling out, Tokio pulled the gun up and aimed at the approaching helicopter.

Most people would be impressed, the way husband and wife worked like a well-oiled machine. But then, he shot Tokio took as the helicopter whizzed by smashed through the glass of the cockpit and hit the pilot in the head, sending the craft down into a spiraling death spin. After watching that, you couldn't really feel good about the two of them together.

The second helicopter hesitated for a moment before coming around on the opposite of the craft. Tokio waited, letting him think he was smart before she yelled at Kaoru to turn the helicopter. And Kaoru, being the skilled pilot she was, managed to do without ever changing the helicopter's parallel position to the ground.

The shot was clean and the second copter went down. Tokio sighed. Really, they should know whom they were dealing with. She told Kaoru to land their craft since she could already see the outline of something on the horizon. It was the entrance, she was sure of it and there was no reason to risk any more mid-air fights.

The blades had barely slowed down when Saitou and Tokio jumped off and started to walk away. Kaoru started to unstrap her own seatbelt before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Just stay here," Kenshin said.

"I won't," Kaoru replied.

"I don't want to get into an argument about this…"

"And I don't want another Aoshi," Kaoru said firmly. Kenshin blinked. "You know why Tokio and Saitou work so well together? Before he actually trusts her to be able to take care of herself."

Kaoru threw open the door and walked away quickly, wondering exactly when her knees would decide to give out. That was so… unlike her. Normally she would have just pined and waited and wished for something to change. Maybe it was Tokio's influence. But she wasn't going to get left behind anymore.

***

Sano slipped down the halls, carefully listening ahead to see if he could hear anyone coming. Hey, three months at the police academy had actually taught him a few things… when he managed to stay away in class. 

Of course, he had no idea where he was going but it felt like from the way he was walking the building was essentially a circle. The hallways curved and Sano got the distinct feeling that if he kept going he'd end up back at his little cell. He hadn't seen any stairs or elevators yet so Megumi should be somewhere on this floor.

He turned the corner and heard the commotion, followed by a loud clang. He peeked around and got a good glimpse at the scene. Megumi was holding a metal tray in her hands, a very dented tray, and on the ground in front of her was an older man who had apparently been the one to make the dents.

"Oi, megitsune," Sano called from the corner. Megumi blinked and looked up.

"What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you," Sano said.

"Feh, like that time in Tokyo I guess."

Sano cringed. Damnit, he had still been recovering from a bullet shot to the stomach back then! Why did she always have to hit his buttons?

"Besides," Megumi said, holding up her hand. "I'm the one with the key to your cell," she said, twirling the set in her hands.

Sano paused, feeling the red flush hit him but shaking it off. "Let's just go get Magdaria and get out of here."

Megumi walked over and quickly past him. "Yes, let's go rescue your little girlfriend so you can fulfill that role of knight to the damsel in…"

"That's it!" Sano cried, grabbing her as she passed by. "Why do you have to make everything so damn hard?"

Megumi stopped and looked over her shoulder. "I'm just stating the truth," she said evenly, never betraying any emotion. "You do want to save her, don't you?"

"What, are you jealous?"

Megumi blinked and looked a wee bit upset. "Being jealous would mean I actually cared. And I don't."

"Really. That's great," Sano replied. "I am glad to hear that."

"Good, I'm glad we're in agreement."

"Put your hands up!"

Sano turned around, his fist snapping out and catching the guard square on the nose. "Can't you see we're having an argument?"

The guard quickly collapsed to the ground, his gun falling to the ground but his other hand clutching the radio tightly. That allowed him to signal the rest of the compound about his predicament and the alarms went off a few seconds after he hit the ground.

"Good job," Megumi said, putting her hands on her hips. "Why didn't you just send out invitations for them to come here!"

Sano's eyebrow twitched and he tried to calm down. His face turned red with anger and he tried to calm down. His hand clenched into a fist and he realized there was no way he was going to calm down. He took a step forward and even Megumi seemed a bit thrown off. He reached forward and grabbed her waist, bringing her close to him.

"What are…" she started, her normal façade shaking a bit.

Without a word, he knelt down quickly, threw her over his shoulder, stood up, and started to walk away. "NO MORE DISCUSSION," he yelled.

Megumi's mind clicked through what just happened and how she had ended up in such a degrading position. This should have been a lesson. She should apologize to Sano right now for making him this upset. Maybe… maybe she had gone too far.

"BAKA! Get the gun!" she yelled, pointing at the fallen guard.

Yeah right, this is Megumi after all.

***

Misao moved quickly against the side of the building. She turned to the soldiers and gave them a thumbs-up. They nodded, taking positions and all producing crossbows. Misao aimed hers and the grappling hook shot upward. Dropping the crossbow to the ground, she tugged on the rope until she was satisfied that it was secure. She adjusted the apparatus on her head and grabbed the rope, planting her feet on the side of the building and climbing up.

MISAO!

She let go of the rope and fell to the ground, landing squarely on her ass. Lucky for her she had barely taken two steps before the voice had exploded in her ear.

"Ow!" She protested into the microphone. "Stop yelling in my ear or I'll fall again." She got her hands around the rope again and started to climb up.

There was silence on the other end of the radio. We are having a long discussion after this.

Misao stuck her tongue out at Aoshi, knowing he wouldn't see her from where he was. All he saw what she was looking at, the night's sky, a building arching upwards, and the taunt rope she was climbing it with.

"Whatever. Right now though, it'd be nice to have someone saying helpful things on the other end of this connection," Misao said.

There was another pause. I can't be of help if I don't know what's going on.

Misao sighed. "Its real simple. Big building in Vegas, heavy security at the door. US surveillance caught a few images of a couple of Juppongatana folks walking in with a large box. I'm going to sneak in, the US boys are going to help. Enough info?"

All right. I have a satellite image of the buildings entrance in front of me. It doesn't look like you've been seen.

Misao continued climbing upwards, Aoshi giving the occasional status report. The twenty-story building didn't take too long to climb but just as she reached somewhere around the 18th floor, Misao suddenly found herself wondering about something.

"Aoshi… can you see the roof?"

There was a pause and some silent typing. Give me a second.

Misao nodded and looked up. Her eyes shot open as she took in the form that had suddenly appeared on the edge of the roof. His head tilting downward, the man smirked.

Misao! There's someone on the…

The sword slash downward and the rope suddenly went slack, heading right for her and back towards the ground. Her footing slipped and she started to pitch backward, watching with increasing horror as the edge of the roof began to recede and the voice in her ear started to yell.


	8. Chapter 8

**__**

Author's note: First things first… I have to apologize. In case you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a Kaoru fan. I'm not saying she's perfect or anything, I just happen to like her faults and all. But there is one thing I could not take and it's something I find other Kaoru fans saying too. So I took a light-hearted approach to it in this chapter…

Second… ummm… don't kill me at the end of this chapter.

JML : You really like digging yourself in deep with the characters, ne? You could be a Juppongatana lackey by all the stuff they throw at you in your reviews.

KitKat : I like canon couples. I had this whole Meiling-Syaoran thing for a while but it sucks when the rest of the world doesn't agree with you. (Besides Sano and Megumi were made for each other).

nemo : Yeah, boys never learn.

Kristy : Errr… then um… close your eyes at the end of the chapter.

Vesca, JadeGoddess : Oh boy… see above.

Gemini : Tell me about it!! Why is it guy just plop down a few bucks and get a year's worth of underwear and we have to shell out 15 bucks for one piece???

Chi : ^_^ Thanks for the compliment and umm… yeah… K&K… it'll happen… someday.

Gemin16, Firekat, Nye-Yen : It's continued!!

angelyca_ : See… if Aoshi spent less time thinking and more time doing, we wouldn't have these problems.

Prudence-chan!! Good Lord!!! Do you want Sano chopped up into little pieces?!?!

Koneko-chan : S&M is actually the easiest to right for some reason… so long as they're still insulting each other.

LittleDragon5 : Aoshi is just big brother to both, probably Megumi too but neither would admit that.

dementedchris : *hides under blanket* But… but… I'm American!! They never taught me grammar!! Thx for the catches though.

Lian Leviathan : Your review always make me laugh ^_^ And get to bed earlier!!

Yuki : Yes, oh yes… he is VERY sexy as Battousai.

Okay, that should be everyone! Enough rambling… go, read, enjoy!

**__**

Chapter 8

The world arced backwards and Misao watched as the sky suddenly turned around and was under her feet. The loud staccato of gunfire was echoing against the glass of the building but she could barely hear it over the explosion of sound from the headset.

Something hit her in the side hard and Misao felt her neck snap quickly to the side as the world shifted to the right. The window shattered as she hit it and rolled into the room. A few dazed seconds later, she slowly reoriented herself.

She was bleeding from a cut in her forehead but otherwise seemed fine. The headset was gone but she was still attached the climbing rope. She quickly undid the latch and let the limp rope fall to the shard-littered ground. Reaching into her vest she pulled out her gun and looked around, finally seeing what had hit her.

The poor soldier had taken the brunt of the crash through the window but he seemed to be breathing. Yeah US Army, Misao thought dragging him to the side and covering him up so that he would stay hidden until extraction.

Slowly she strafed towards the broken window and looked out at the side of the building. No one was left scaling it. She could make out a few broken windows and a quick look down to the ground assuaged her fears. No one had fallen all the way down. 

Misao pulled back and examined the room she was in. It was an office, probably a low-level bureaucrat from the looks of the furnishings. She peeked under the desk and saw something scribbled there. Password… IT would be furious tomorrow morning. But for today…

Misao woke the computer out of its screen saver dream and logged into the system. It was pretty restrictive but she managed to pull up a map of the building. And some information about the company she had just broken into. So far, nothing seemed to be going right. This was a brokerage firm! Why would the Juppongatana be storing a missile here? 

There was movement at the door and Misao turned off the screen before ducking under the desk. After a few minutes of hiding, she cautiously looked around the corner of the desk and saw one of the soldiers doing the same thing. They both sighed in relief and met in middle of the room, Misao quickly filling him in on what she had found.

"There's something about this that I don't like ma'am," the soldier said. 

"I'll have to agree with that."

The soldier suddenly crouched down and Misao swung her gun around the room looking for trouble. But the soldier eventually managed relay the message as he clutched the headset to his ears.

"Christ, someone just started yelling in the radios."

Misao paused and smiled. "Husky voice with an accent?" The solider nodded. "Boy, am I glad that I don't have a radio right about now."

The soldier paused and nodded, whispering into the mic and listening for his orders. "Okay, the rest of the group is going to move here. HQ is sending an extraction unit."

"Complete wash then," Misao said with a frown. "Well… it'll take a bit before everyone is ready to go…"

"Please ma'am, just stay here."

"I'll be fine."

"I'm not worried about that, ma'am. I'm worried that man on the other end of this radio will draw and quarter me if I let you go."

Misao smiled. "Then don't tell him…I do it all the time."

***

The small quartet moved quickly against the sand towards the installation. The helicopter had given their location away and there was no place to hide amidst the expanse of the desert. So the direct approach was going to have to be it.

The sun was setting fast on the horizon, the amber rays bathing the four as they moved down the dirt road. A gentle night breezed tousled with them before quickly disappearing once more. Because of the speed they left Vegas to get here, none of them had changed into appropriate base storming clothes. And no matter how cute they looked on the rack, Kaoru was seriously regretted the little sandals she wore. So while they looked like they were about to go out for a nice dinner on the town, the image couldn't hold as they prepped various weapons for the small contingent of guards that was waiting for them at the gate's entrance.

Leave it to the Saitou's to never do anything small, Kenshin thought unhappily as the two ran forward to start the assault. Looking over he saw Kaoru kicked off her shoes and pull out the gun Tokio had leant her before she started advancing.

Okay, Kenshin, she's a trained police officer. She's been working in Tokyo for years. She's already face the Juppongatana. She should be ready for anything.

Except for the tank that had just rolled up from underground and was pointing its cannon right at them. 

"Split!" Tokio called out, running and grabbing Kaoru as they ran around the left. Kenshin's mind thought left too but a barrage of bullets forced him right and next to Saitou.

Well that hadn't gone as he had planned, Kenshin thought unhappily looking up at the dour man.

"Draw its attention here," Saitou said suddenly.

"Draw its what?" Kenshin asked, watching Saitou as he stared across the way. Kenshin could just see Tokio flashing hand signal this way and realized what the plan was.

Of course, exactly how do you draw the attention of a huge tank towards to you?

More the point, who in their right mind would try?

But when Tokio and Kaoru broke from their cover to head towards the entrance and the tank started aiming for them, Kenshin suddenly realized this was not a question of sanity. Saitou charged the tank with his sword without a second thought. Kaoru had been right. You had to just trust the other person. And apparently Kaoru trusted him enough to do his part of the plan to put herself in the path of a heavily armored vehicle to do it.

He drew his sword. Charge a missile-laden, machine-gun totting, 35,000lb vehicle of death with a single reverse blade sword?

Hell yes.

By then, however, the real question had become, was it the setting sun that was giving his eyes an amber shading or was it something else?

***

"Put me down!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because you'll hit me."

"I'll hit you harder if you don't PUT ME DOWN!"

"God woman! You're louder than the freaking alarms!"

The sound of feet hitting the hallway almost overpowered the blaring horns, as did the resounding slap that Megumi gave Sano.

"You said you wouldn't hit me!" Sano cried holding his cheek.

"I said I would hit you harder if you didn't put me down."

Sano looked at Megumi angrily but the pounding feet of approaching security made him reconsider. He grabbed Megumi's hand and took off just as the bullets hit the wall next to them.

"Turn left!" Megumi cried.

But of course, Sano turned right, back towards the cells where he knew Magdaria was being kept. At least… he thought it was right.

"Where are you going?" Megumi cried, being pulled along.

"Back to the cells, where else!"

"Baka! That was the other way!! You have NO sense of direction!!"

Sano tried not to get upset because he knew she was right. He just turned on his heel and stormed back the way they came. Right into the waiting hands of the security guards.

At this point, however, Sano had reached his limit. He had been hit on the head, tied up, imprisoned, yelled at by megitsune, and was now being shot at. Sano on a good day is dangerous. Sano on a bad day… well…

Five minutes later and a dozen bodies on the ground, Megumi and Sano continued on their way.

***

Kaoru and Tokio quickly ran through the hallways, ignoring the blaring horns as they looked for signs of danger. But so far, no one had come to greet them.

"What are we looking for?" Kaoru asked.

"Something suspicious," Tokio answered.

"You mean beyond the entire 'buried in the desert' secret base thing they have going?"

Tokio smiled. "I like your spunk."

Kaoru balked and tried to think of how to respond. Which is when it occurred to her that she was running through a very dangerous place with one of the top Hiten yakuza bosses. She should have been arresting the woman, not playing hero with her.

"They're probably keeping Megumi in a special room," Kaoru suggested. "We should really stop and look in a few of these." But Tokio pressed on without answering. Kaoru got a bad feeling. "We are here to rescue Megumi, right?"

Tokio smiled. "Of course," she said. "Right after I put enough bullets into Shishio to make sure not even God himself could bring him back to life."

Kaoru frowned. She didn't like the way that sounded. Not that she didn't believe Shishio should be dead and buried but… let's face it, she was still a cop. She needed to believe that even he deserved justice.

"We can't kill him," Kaoru said firmly coming to a stop. "We need to bring him into the proper authorities."

Tokio stopped and looked back laughing. "Don't joke with me! Shishio Makoto escaped certain death. Do you think eluding the Japanese legal system is going to be hard for him?"

"I believe that they will judge him appropriately," Kaoru said firmly.

"And decide to hang him," Tokio said. "We're just saving people a lot of time and money and taking care of it now."

"I'm sorry I can't let you do that," Kaoru stated, shifting the gun in her hand.

Tokio smiled shifted, just a little bit. "Kaoru-san, let's get one thing clear. I like you because you've got attitude and because you've managed to make that redheaded sack of misery actually smile again. But if you get in my way, I'm going to kill you."

Kaoru looked up her, blue eyes flaring defiantly, her hands shifting on the gun. She didn't say anything, her face said it all. But Tokio made no moves of backing down either.

Until she saw movement behind Kaoru. Tokio's eyes opened wide and Kaoru got a glimpse of something very scary. Pure, unadulterated rage.

"Saitou Tokio," the sweet voice sang. "How nice to see you again."

"Komagata Yumi," Tokio hissed, completely forgetting about Kaoru's insubordination as she narrowed on to the next target.

"How's that arm feeling?" Yumi smiled.

"As good as your knee I bet."

Kaoru looked at the two women, noticing that Tokio's anger was definitely reflected in Yumi's eyes. And from the way they were talking, this was not the first time they had met. Worse of all, she was standing in the middle of them as they shifted guns and eyed each other.

Quietly she stepped back towards the bend in the wall and slipped around the corner. It was like a Western standoff. But… it was going to give Kaoru a chance. She needed to find Shishio first before Tokio could just execute him. And if she were lucky, Megumi would be wherever Shishio was.

***

Misao snaked her way through the fancy hallways, her feet barely making a noise on the gray carpeted floor. She suddenly realized something. It wasn't the badly reproduced Impressionist art that was annoying her. It was the whole place. Something was very, very wrong here.

She moved up the stairs and they were empty. Where was that man on the roof? He had to Juppongatana but where were the rest of his lackeys? The place should be crawling with them.

Misao jumped at the noise and then realized it was only the air conditioning kicking in. This was getting ridiculous. She had to get to the roof and see things for herself.

Climbing the stairs should have been easy but by the time she got back to the 18th floor she was completely out of breath. She stopped where she was, letting the cool air from the vent blow across her head. After a few seconds of this, she finally built up enough energy and opened the door to the front floor.

At first, she couldn't see anyone but as her vision cleared to the night, she made out of a figure standing next to the fan vents. She pulled up her gun and aimed.

"Hold it right there!" she called out in English, repeating it in Japanese for good measure.

The man turned around and Misao blinked. Something was wrong with his face. His eyes… she couldn't see his eyes. Was he wearing a blindfold? Maybe… 

But then Misao got a good look at his face and everything fell into place.

***

Kenshin could be glad of one thing. Saitou's skills hadn't diminished at all. And even though they had started out on opposing yakuza families, Kenshin had never disliked the man just because they were constantly trying to kill each other. But now with the Shinsengumi and the Hiten family one, Saitou was an ally.

And a good thing too, seeing as the poor F.U.J.I. tank was high tailing it out of the area before it lost more appendages to the quick sword of the Wolf. 

Saitou moved towards the remaining guards, ignoring them as they ran and concentrating on the base. Kenshin quickly sheathed his sword and followed, watching as Saitou eyed the steel door that had dropped down moments earlier.

"The panel," Kenshin said, pointing to a small keypad by the door. "We should be able to…"

Saitou's sword speared through the panel and it cracked and fizzled. He reached in and started pulling wires, putting them together until the door suddenly shot open.

"Stay here," Saitou ordered.

It took Kenshin completely by surprise. "What do you mean, stay here?"

"You're useless now," Saitou said, sheathing his sword. "Tokio will go after Shishio to finish him. It won't be a battle where your current style of fighting will do us any good."

Kenshin's eyes flared amber. "Strange… but I seem to recall being the one who put him in that condition."

Saitou let the briefest smile escaped as he watched the change in composure of the other man. "Yes, and the condition is not dead. That's the problem. If you had killed him the first time, no one would be in danger now."

Kenshin balked. He wanted to argue it… but how? If he had managed to kill Shishio the first time then Kaoru would never have been in danger and Megumi wouldn't have been kidnapped. But he couldn't kill anyone again, could he?

"Make a decision," Saitou said. "Can you kill Shishio and anyone that stands in the way to him?"

"I…"

"Hurry up," Saitou snapped feeling him hesitate. "Or else Tokio will make the choice for you. And I'll tell you something else… if that little cop gets in her way, Tokio's not going to stop."

Kenshin's mind made a decision rather after Saitou said that. Without another word, he reached down and pulled up one of the fallen guard's guns and walked inside.

***

"Shit! I know it was here," Sano said, looking at the wall.

Megumi sighed and continued to look on the wall. Sano was right. The door to the cells should have been here. But all they could find was wall. "Something is not right," Megumi said under her breath.

And to his credit, Sano did not retort when she stated the obvious. "You're sure this is the way back?"

Megumi nodded, also curbing her normal snippiness. "I walked these halls at least five times since I got here. I know this is the way back."

"Could it have something to do with the alarms?" Sano said.

Megumi paused. That would make sense. Gingerly she reached forward and tapped on the wall. It was hollow behind it. "Magadaria?" Megumi called and pressed her ear to the door.

Megumi blinked. "I think I can hear her."

Sano walked forward and shouldered wall a few times before it finally buckled and fell into the room. But unlike the glaring white light that had greeted him when he woke up, all Sano could see was darkness and the thin outline of a woman in the back.

"Magdaria?" Sano called.

"Sagara-san?" came the melodic voice. "And… Tanaki-sensei?"

"Hai," Megumi said, her voice softening slightly. Though she would never admit it to Sano, Megumi was worried about the other girl as well, especially considering the advanced stage of her disease.

"We're both here," Sano said.

"That's good," the voice said. "It'll save me the trouble of having to hunt you down to kill you."

Megumi and Sano quickly backed away as the shadow moved. It was dressed in a nun's costume but quickly ripped it away to reveal a dizzying array of cloth and rope. Clutched in her hand was a giant scythe.

"Kamatari!" Sano said, recognizing the girl/boy. "You should be in prison."

"Should be," Kamatari smiled, swing the scythe in the air. "Just like you should be locked away too. I guess it wasn't meant to be for either of us 'cause word from upstairs is to kill you on the spot."

The scythe lashed out and Sano barely had time to duck and bring Megumi down him. 

"RUN!" He managed to yell just as the second attack came.

***

Kaoru raced down the halls, gun low to the ground as she looked around corners to see if it was all clear. She read the plaques off the wall, hoping that something would be useful. But either her English was worse than she thought or the place was built to confuse people. Kaoru was betting on the later.

An explosion in front of her forced her against the wall and she barely had time to duck as a wave of guard swept past her. She prayed they'd just overshoot her but one of them caught her trying to hide and whatever they were running from suddenly became less interesting.

Kaoru was not a fan of firefights and had generally avoided them since she joined the force. In the academy, they always taught you to aim for a kill shot because anything else would give the bad guys the chance to shoot you or your fellow policemen.

Her father had had the same problem as she did with that philosophy. And when she was growing up, he had taught her how to fight without killing. Still, she was facing three angry guards with semi-automatics, what the hell else was she supposed to do but fire back?

Kaoru fired the gun quickly, aiming for ceiling and taking out several of the panels. The ensuing debris storm gave her enough time to position a less lethal shot and the three men went down with blown out kneecaps. Dad had taught her that one… really… she hadn't picked it up from Terminator 2 or anything.

Moving forward quickly, she made sure to collect their guns. Two in her back pockets, two in her hands. And for a real treat, a few smoke grenades. She felt like a regular Tomb Raider.

Now the only question was whether she would investigate the explosion or go in the opposite direction of it. Whatever made those guards flee, might help her out though. It seemed to make sense so Kaoru took off in that direction.

She should have been happy to be proven right but it turned out that explosion was the direct result of a desperate Saitou and Kenshin trying to hold off a wave of security. The fight was being waged from opposite ends of a large room and she was stuck at the entrance in the middle. So she wasn't happy, she was damn near ecstatic.

Now we're going to see who needs protecting, she thought, slipping the guns in her hands into her front pockets. She grabbed the smoke grenades and pulled the pins, looking around the corner.

The softball league back home was a lot of fun and it had given Kaoru a very good throwing arm. Of course, softball didn't involve avoiding bullets aimed at your head but Kaoru managed to get two good throws in.

Saitou and Kenshin managed to steal a quick glance at Kaoru before they realized from the way she was ducking what was about to happen. The room exploded in light and smoke and most of the security force was lost in the ensuing chaos.

Taking a chance, Saitou and Kenshin made a break for it, skidding into the hall with Kaoru.

"Are you okay?" Kenshin asked.

"Fine," Kaoru said with a nod.

"Where's Tokio?" Saitou asked quickly.

But Kaoru didn't have an answer for that.

***

"So where's your sword?" Yumi asked, standing still with her hand wrapped around the small pistols.

"The same place yours is," Tokio replied. "We were never ones to cloud our desire to kill behind antiquated ideals."

"No," Yumi said. "I always thought the whole thing was silly but Shishio-sama always wanted it."

"Yes… where is your dear lover?" Tokio asked, fingers flexing against the gun. "I wanted to discuss that ideology with him."

"You mean you wanted to give him a close up view of your own take on things," Yumi laughed. "Well, I hate to be the one to tell you but he's not going to be here for much longer."

Tokio's eyes narrowed. "How's that?"

"Well obviously, with the way things are right now, it's not safe for him. So I promised I would keep you here long enough to escape. And with all this inane chatter and staring at each other he's almost in the clear."

Tokio's eyebrow twitched. "Almost but not yet. All I have to do is kill you to get to him."

"And all I have to do is kill you so I can stop wasting my time with you and be with him. So let's…"

Yumi didn't finish her sentence. She hadn't been planning to though, knowing the way Tokio was. She was already turning to the side as Tokio fired a bullet at her head. Whipping around she pulled the trigger and fired back at Tokio, watching with disgust as the other woman ducked the predictable shot and dove to the right. Neither woman's first shot had managed to hit the other.

"Losing your touch there?" Yumi called out.

"Strange, I was about to ask the same thing," Tokio retorted as she clicked the next bullet into place. Her mind ran through several options as she looked for the best plan of attack.

But suddenly her plan was made for her.

***

Sano ducked as the chain snapped around, hurtling the ball towards him. Sano ducked and the ball flew over his head. Kamatari cursed and brought the weapon back. This wasn't going well, Sano realized. He had wondered if a good solid punch would shatter the ball but up close he could see the spikes and knew any contact would just result in his arm being pierced by them.

"Not doing so well are we?" Kamatari laughed as he watched Sano dance around. "Maybe you should have let that little girlfriend of yours stay."

There were so many things wrong with that statement that Sano didn't even know where to begin. Instead he settled for some frustrated curses and ducking to the ground as the ball arced over his head.

Kamatari started to laugh but something hit him on the head and he fell back, cursing as the blood start to flow from the open wound. Sano looked back and saw Megumi hold several chunks of debris.

"I guess Kaoru was right about joining that softball league," she said tossing another fragment in her hand.

"What are you doing here?" Sano yelled.

"Well, I went to see if Magdaria was in the other cell," Megumi said. "And when she wasn't, I figured I should probably come back and help you."

"I don't need your help!" Sano yelled.

"Duck," she said, kneeling the ground.

Sano quickly complied, feeling the air above him move as the scythe's chain whizzed past his head. The ball landed in the wall behind him with such an impact that it lodged itself in there.

"Shit," Kamatari said, pulling on the chain to free it. 

Sano got up quickly with a smile. "Now we'll see who's doing okay," he said wrapping his hands around the chain and pulled it, subsequently pulling the ball out of the wall too.

Kamatari and Sano quickly became embroiled in a game of tug of war. Sano was strong but Kamatari had managed to embed the scythe's blade into floor below him. It wouldn't be enough, Sano smiled, starting to put his full strength in the maneuver.

"What are you doing?" Megumi asked, walking in front of him and speaking in a whisper.

"Winning," Sano said, as Kamatari skidded forward. 

Megumi looked at him and then at Kamatari and sighed, mumbled about men and their egos. "Let go of the chain," she said.

"What? Hell no!"

"Just do it!"

"But… but… I'm winning!"

Megumi leaned forward and looked at him. "Sano… let go of the chain or I'll make you."

Sano paused for a moment letting her words sink in. How could she even begin to think that she could do anything to him that would make him drop…

Her knee started to come up and Sano very quickly (and very wisely) dropped the chain. Kamatari flew backwards and hit the ground hard, knocking himself unconscious.

"See?" Megumi said, suddenly watching as the spiked ball flew past her and into the ceiling. Something hissed from behind the panels. Sano and Megumi looked at each other.

"That can't be good," Sano said as he grabbed Megumi's arm.

She didn't question his move because she simply didn't have time. The ceiling exploded and a wave of water came spurting out of the burst water main. It threw them into the hallway and they realized that the water wasn't stopping. In fact, from the way the ceiling was cracking, it was about to get worse.

Megumi and Sano took off running but barely made it a dozen steps before the wave caught them and pushed them forward through the hall.

Tokio barely had a chance to brace herself as the wave hit her, taking her away from her personal duel and, much to her disgust, giving Yumi enough reason to disappear into a side room to escape.

Kenshin, Saitou and Kaoru had been walking down the hall in search of their missing comrades when they saw it.

"Not again," Kaoru managed before she got engulfed in water.

The water swished through the halls taking the poor people trapped in it on a wild water adventure. It threw them against walls but always managed to leave a bit of air on top so they could breath. 

But it couldn't last forever. Either there would be no place for the water to go anymore and they'd all drown as the last bit of space filled up or it'd finally reach an exit and drain out, letting them walk out of the place. Instead, the water decided to do something a bit different and threw them out of the entrance they had come in and onto the desert sand like beached whales. 

Several coughing and curses fits later, the group managed to get themselves together again. Night had fallen but the moon was full and illuminating the area around them and from what they could see, no one was that badly injured.

"Well," Kaoru said, twisting her hair to get the water out. "That didn't go as planned but..." she walked over and embraced Megumi in a hug, "I'm happy with the results."

"Kaoru!" Megumi said, unhappily, "you're going to get me wet!"

"You're already wet," Kaoru smiled.

"Well, wetter then."

Kaoru looked up, knowing she was joking around. She looked over at Sano. "I didn't know you were here though."

"Well," Sano shrugged. "I figured I should help save Megumi too."

Megumi rolled her eyes. "He got captured too." Sano's eyebrow twitched.

Kaoru smiled at them and then looked back. Saitou and Tokio were standing several feet away. They looked at the group with no emotion but it was clear that they weren't going to hang around for much longer.

"Well, we'll take the helicopter back," Kaoru said firmly.

"That will be fine," Tokio replied. "Just return it where you got it."

"Good," Kaoru nodded, not inquiring about how they were going to get home. As far as she was concerned, the temporary truce between her and the yakuza was over the minute that Tokio threatened her life. 

So it should have been over. But Kenshin was in the middle looking at the Saitous and then back at the sopping wet group. He lowered his head. Kaoru blinked and shot a look a Megumi and Sano as she moved towards him.

"What wrong, Kenshin?" she asked softly.

"Kaoru-dono…" he said.

"Hai?" 

"I think… I think it would be better for me to go with them, de gozaru," he said looking over at the Saitous. 

"What?"

"Back there… Saitou asked me if I could kill Shishio and anyone who stood in his way. And," he paused, his brow furrowing. "And I suddenly realized I could and I would if it came to that. I can't escape be the assassin I was and I'm just putting you in more and more danger by being here."

Kaoru sniffed a bit and Kenshin looked away, not ready to see her cry. "Sayo…"

Something yanked his head back and he suddenly realized Kaoru had grabbed his ponytail as he turned away.

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

"I… I just…"

"You just what?"

"I… weren't you crying…sniffling?"

"I'm completely drenched, in the middle of the desert at night. Of course, I'm sniffling!"

"Demo…"

"Oi, jou-chan, what's the deal?"

Kaoru pulled Kenshin back towards the group by his ponytail. "Oro?"

"He wants to go with the Saitous!" Kaoru called.

"What? Why Ken-san?" Megumi asked.

"I…" Kenshin said, suddenly finding himself facing three rather confused and angry looking people. Somewhere in his mind, he was thinking this wasn't right, this wasn't supposed to happen.

"Stop being stupid," Sano said. "Besides, they're gone now."

Kenshin looked over his shoulder and realized Sano was right. "But…"

"Kaoru-chan, did you say something about a helicopter?"

"Hai!" Kaoru said, pointing towards the road. "It's about a five minute walk to get there."

"Good," Sano added, taking off down the road. "I can't wait for a nice warm bath when we get back."

"Bath?" Megumi asked, walking next to him. "You mean you actually bathe?"

Kaoru gave them a few feet before she turned back to Kenshin, whose eyes were close to swirling in confusion. He blinked up and looked at her.

"Look," she said. "I saw what was going on before I threw the smoke screen. And you can't tell me you couldn't take a shot at those security guards because Saitou was doing a good job of it. Besides…" she said, putting her hands on her hips.

He looked at her for a moment and watched the emotions play on her face. "Besides…" she said soften a bit. 

"Hai?" he said, looking at her.

She looked into his eyes and tried to muster the courage… 

"You owe me rent for the past two months."

"Oro?"

"Kaoru! Kenshin! Stop fooling around! I'm cold!" Megumi yelled from up the road.

"You're always cold," Sano responded quickly.

Kaoru smiled a bit as they erupted into arguments and then quickly grabbed Kenshin's hand to drag him down the road.

***

Misao looked at the man across from and tried to bring up her gun but she couldn't find the strength. From behind the gas mask, the man smiled and waved good-bye as he walked towards the edge of the building and repelled down the side of the building.

The gun fell to the ground and Misao stumbled back towards the entrance. The cool air of the air conditioning welcomed her but it made her want to cry too. It would be okay, she told herself as she made her way back towards where the rest of the team was.

But they were all passed out on the ground. She picked up the nearest radio and held it away as she heard the US pilot screaming to get their attention.

"Calm down," she yelled into the handheld microphone before she put the headphones on.

What the hell is going on there? 

"How far away are you?" Misao asked, looking out of the broken window. In the distance, she could almost see the sky wavering as something passed through it.

Five minutes. 

"You need to go back. This entire area needs to be quarantined."

There was a few second of confusion as the pilot tried to understand. Did you find the missile? 

"No," Misao said. "But we found the payload." She paused and looked down at her hand and watching as it wavering along with her consciousness. "It's biological," she managed before she passed out.


	9. Chapter 9

****

Author's note: ACK!! They gave me work!! Can you believe that? But I got some free time and here I am back to torture all of you again ^_^

Vesca - action is easy!! Fluff… now that is hard…

Nemo - Aoshi's fit is included ^_^

Gemin16 - I know I'm cruel but I try to keep you guys reading! Thanks for the compliment BTW.

kristy - See above

Yuki - haven't heard you in a bit, drop me a line and I hope you enjoy this chapter

dementedchris - Action is fun and easy! Writing stuff like you do is very difficult. But thanks for the compliment!

Loyce - not a week this time so I hope the pins weren't too bad. Thanks for the review!

JML - Gasket would be the word… only it's a bit different then expected

Lian - You always make me laugh

le bleuphenix - Aoshi will be a very weary man after all the stuff Misao put him through

JadeGoddess - The Hiten (Hiko's group) and the Shinsengumi (Saitou's group) merged a while back under the guidance of Tokio. Hiko is top dog, Saitou is his second in command. Hope that clears it up!

Koneko-chan - glad you liked the scene!

Nye-Yen - Kaoru got picked on last time, this time Misao is my poor pawn MWAHAHA…

Omochi - A missile it is… this chapter explains it

Colleen - *sighs with relief*… oh wait… you said if the damage WASN'T permanent… errr… *hires bodyguards*

Animegirl74 - *hires more bodyguards*

Anyway thanks for the reviews. Just bear with me with the biology on this one… I haven't studied genetics for a while so I'm a bit rusty. Enjoy!! (And don't kill me… please…^_~)

**__**

Chapter 9

The clouds burst and rain began to fall on the desert, soaking into the sand and creating a momentary bloom of flowers. A cactus opened its own petals, relishing in the relief from the oppressive dry heat. The drops caught on them, like tiny diamonds but worth much more to the plant.

A rough shoe suddenly disrupted the peaceful scene, crushing the poor flower under its sole. The black shoes quickly made their way across the landscaping in front of the office building. 

"Everyone stay back! This area has been declared a biohazard. No one without proper credentials is allowed near here!" The officer let the bullhorn drop by his side as he saw the man approaching him.

"Sir, you need to step away from…"

"It's all right, he's with us," the soldier said suddenly appearing from the side.

The officer glanced away from the military brass to the man again, somewhat glad that someone had interceded. The cold look in his blue eyes made the cop realize this man wouldn't have taken no as an answer anyway.

Aoshi pushed through the crowd, ignoring as several news crews attempted to shove a microphone at him. The flashes of cameras never stopped, creating fake lightning to match the real one that thundered in the sky.

They gave him a suit and a lot of instructions but he only half listened to them. His eyes were locked in the building in front of him. The broken windows had been taped over, though they were barely visible underneath the long tarp that had been draped over the building to prevent any of the virus from escaping.

The first door open and Aoshi felt the soft breeze as the fans kicked in. The door locked behind him and a second door opened, letting him into the carnage. Men in suits like his walked around, taking readings or writing notes. 

He followed behind the general, waiting patiently as the man gave orders. A few minutes later, they walked into the large conference room that had been converted into a triage center.

It took him only a minute to find her and not even the general's words could stop him from moving there.

Misao looked up, her hands clutching her sides. She forced a smile, the same one she used every time she got in trouble and knew she was about to be yelled at. 

"I know, I know," she said weakly. 

"Misao…"

"I shouldn't have…"

But she trailed off, finding herself engulfed in a yellow suited hug. She blinked and tried not to get upset. It must be really bad if Aoshi was acting like this. She looked down at her tiny hands, almost lost in the fabric of his suit and tried to ignore the lumps that were forming on them.

***

"I can't believe it rained!" Megumi said, walking into the Bellagio's suite and tossing her drenched coat onto the sofa. "It's the desert and it rained!"

Kaoru sneezed again, pulling Kenshin's jacket off her shoulders and dropping it next to Megumi's. "I don't know why you're complaining, I'm the one who had to fly through it."

"Let's not mention that again," Sano said stumbling in, still looking a bit green. "I'm going to have nightmares about that trip."

"I think Kaoru-dono did a good job," Kenshin said, smiling a bit.

"Thank you Kenshin," she said with a smile, heading after Megumi into their shared bedroom.

Sano looked over at Kenshin with a raised eyebrow. Kenshin waited until the door closed behind the girls and let out a deep sigh.

"That was the most horrifying experience of my life, de gozaru," he said shaking his head. "I'm going to go make some tea to warm up."

"I'll just take some bourbon from the mini bar," Sano added but the look on Kenshin reminded him of what would happen if Megumi saw him attempting to break the seal on it. "Or tea… tea would be good."

Kenshin shook his head. "Sano, turn on the TV. Maybe they'll tell us what is happening with the storm."

The TV clicked on and the buzzing as the screen degaussed was slowly replaced by the droll voice of the news correspondent.

"…rain hampering the efforts. Officials believe that no one else is danger but have evacuated nearby buildings as a precaution. The building in question is owned by one of the largest real estate companies in Las Vegas. Almost two thousand people work in this building and we can only speculate what may have happened if the device was not triggered early."

"What's going on?" Kaoru asked, emerging from the room in dry clothes. But the two men were transfixed on the screen and Kaoru soon realized why. "Aoshi?"

"What's he doing on TV?" Megumi asked.

"Shhhh…" Kaoru hushed turning up the volume.

"…president has raised terror alert levels today in the face of this attack. Specialists from the CDC are being flown in from Atlanta to determine the exact nature of this biological… hang on a moment, something's going on… we're being told to leave…"

***

Saitou took in a deep drag of his cigarette as he turned off the television. He looked over from his seat on the couch at Tokio. She ran her finger around her glass of wine unhappily, frowning at the news.

"We should have burned the place to the ground," she said, referring to their recent escapades in the desert.

"It wouldn't have changed anything," he replied.

"It would have made me feel better," she sighed, letting the glass land on the table. "They just made a big mistake. This is my turf and no one does something like this and gets away with it."

"That's funny… I was under the impression that as you work for me, this was my turf."

Tokio blinked and looked up as the tall figure strode into the room. "Hiko-san! What are you doing here?"

Hiko looked over at her critically. "After an incident like this, there was no choice."

Tokio's eyes darkened. Any feelings of anger she had had towards the Juppongatana intensified under her boss's words. It was her fault that she had let them get so strong in her city. And her fault that they now had such a powerful weapon.

"Are you sure you should be here, Hiko-san?" she said. "Aren't you still recovering from…"

"I am stronger then that," Hiko said with a wave of his hand. "And this is a matter which requires immediate attention. Have they sent you a request yet?"

Tokio nodded her head. "Yes. A meeting tomorrow night."

Hiko took in a deep breath. "What do you think they want?"

"I don't know," Tokio said. "Right now, they've got a weapon that'll bring this city to its knees. There should be no reason to want to meet with us."

"Unless its to kill us," Saitou added.

Tokio arched an eyebrow upwards. "That would probably be it. It would be inconvenient for us to be here when they take over the city."

Hiko nodded. "Tomorrow night then," he said. "That should be enough time."

"I'll make some calls," Tokio said.

***

"How long?" Aoshi demanded.

The general looked over at the doctor with a nod, giving him permission to speak. "We can't know until we are certain what it is."

"You don't know what it is?"

The doctor shook his head. "This is not a virus that was created in nature. It was manufactured. And without knowing how it was made, we can't create an antidote to fight against it."

"We have men combing the area," the general said. "Something will turn up."

Aoshi's pocket suddenly began to move and he reached in and removed his cell phone. "Hai, moshi-moshi."

Aoshi! What's going on?

"Kaoru," he said recognizing her voice.

Are you okay? They just evacuated everyone on TV.

"Hai… the wind shifted and they were afraid that people might be in danger."

That's a relief. There was a pause. Aoshi… where's Misao?

***

Twenty minutes later, the remaining members of the group sat in the Bellagio suite, glum and heartbroken over the news. The little perky spy that they had come to know over the months was in grave danger and there was nothing they could do.

"I don't buy it," Sano said suddenly. "There's got to be something they're missing."

"It's not that easy," Megumi said. "A manufactured virus is a difficult to understand as they say. I attended several lectures on the subject at the conference."

"Megumi-dono," Kenshin said turning to her, "was there maybe someone at the conference that may have helped the Juppongatana with this?"

Megumi shook her head. "Most of the people there are the best in the fields, well-respected and by the book. Well… except…"

"Except who?" Kaoru said, prompting her friend.

"Well, there was Von Strasbourg who was obviously on the Juppongatana payroll. But he couldn't do something like this, it wasn't his field." She paused for a minute. "But Shougo Amakusa…"

"Magdaria's brother," Sano said.

Megumi nodded. "When we were trapped together in the cell, Magdaria was sure she was there because of her brother's work. She said that they had told her they needed it to help cure Shishio's burns. But what if… what if they weren't looking for him for a cure."

"I don't understand," Kaoru said, shaking her head.

Megumi nodded and backtracked. "Shougo's research was based on modifying cells that had become cancerous, changing their DNA so that they would no longer reproduce and create the tumors."

"So if there was a way to stop them," Kenshin said, "then the reverse should hold true."

"Misao…" Aoshi started. "Misao and the soldiers all had small lumps on their arms."

"Tumors," Megumi filled in. "Small but growing. That must be it. The virus modifies certain genes and turns the cancer on."

"Cancer that you can catch from a virus?" Kaoru said softly. "How can they do something like that?"

"The Juppongatana aren't exactly the friendliest people," Sano said. "And with this, they can get anything want. The only question is… why haven't they made any demands?"

Megumi sighed. "Well, I think the building was a test. It was small and contained quickly. Now that they know it works, they should be asking for the world. But… but I think they're missing half the equation."

"You mean, they don't have the cure," Aoshi interjected.

"That's it," Megumi said. "In this day and age, an airborne pathogen can make it around the world in a matter of weeks. And the Juppongatana, no matter how evil, wouldn't want the entire world to die. They'd have nothing left to rule."

"So they don't have the cure," Kenshin thought out loud. "If we can find it first…"

"We nullify their weapon," Megumi finished. "Which is another reason they're probably waiting."

"So where do we start looking?" Kaoru asked. "What about Magdaria?"

"I don't think she was in the facility when we escaped," Sano said. "We checked her room and she was gone."

"But they'll probably use her to get to her brother," Megumi added. "We just need to find out where they're going to try to arrange a meeting with Shougo to trade her for the cure."

The room fell silent. They had reached an impasse. Kaoru knew asking the Saitous was out of the question. Beyond the fact that Tokio had threatened to kill her, she didn't want them to have the cure. It would just be another gang war as each side tried to out do the other and in the end, one of them would win and the rest of the world would lose. There wasn't enough time to infiltrate the Juppongatana. And there was no one in the Juppongatana they could ask… or was there?

Kaoru looked up and caught Kenshin's eye. Apparently he had just realized the same thing.

"Hiruma," Kenshin said. 

"Who?" Megumi asked.

"He's a small time crook but he was the Juppongatana contact for Von Strasbourg and Shougo. He would know where they told Shougo to meet them. The only problem…"

Everyone fell silent and looked at Megumi. Her eyes narrowed. "What?" she asked.

"Well," Kaoru started. "It's like this. This would be the third time we've tried to catch him. Each of the other times… he kind of got away. And now, he knows all of our faces… well almost all of them."

Megumi blinked and shook her head. "No way."

"Come on! He knows Kenshin from his old days with the Hiten. Then Misao and I almost had him in the casino so he knows what we look like. And he knows Aoshi from the shoot out at the high rollers table."

"What about Sano!" Megumi said, pointing to the other man who was attempting to sink into his chair.

"He'd know Sano through me," Kenshin added. And apparently Sano wasn't about to disagree. It might have been true but they knew the sort of man Hiruma was. A woman would work much better.

Megumi crossed her arms. "I'm not a cop or a gang member. I wouldn't know what to do."

"You'd just have to distract him," Kaoru said, " while the rest of us grab him."

"Distract him?" Megumi asked. "Distract him how…"

***

"First, it was the first class tickets. Then it was sharing the suite with a horde of rampaging animals. Then it was getting kidnapped. I thought that was bad enough… but this! THIS IS MY LIMIT!!"

Kaoru cringed under her friend's anger. "Megumi… it's not that bad."

"Not that bad??"

"Well… Misao and I had to wear bunny costumes if it makes you feel better."

"It doesn't because the two of you are psychotic enough to do things like this for a living. Look at me!! I look like… like…"

Kaoru sighed and pulled the last bit of the zipper up. "Please Megumi… for Misao."

She turned and frowned. Megumi knew she wasn't going to be able to refuse. But Kaoru could have at least let her rant a bit longer. "Just go, I'll be out in a few minutes."

Kaoru nodded and bounded out to the main seating area, maneuvering to the table in the back where the rest of the group was. She threw them an unsure look with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I think she's ready," Kaoru said half-heartedly. "What do we do?"

"Hiruma is at one of the front tables," Aoshi whispered. "Sano and I'll round around the back to trap his escape. You two come around the front."

"How can we do that without him noticing?"

"People will start dancing when the show begins," Aoshi continued, suddenly looking unhappy. He paused. "Actually I think maybe I should go up with you."

Sano frowned, realizing what was about to happen. Well, Kenshin was going to owe him for actually convincing the brooding, cold fish to stay with him. "Right, then Kenshin and I'll pummel the living daylights out of the guy."

"No," Aoshi said shaking his head. "We can't make too much a commotion otherwise the Juppongatana will suspect something." He looked up at the tall man with spiky hair and imagined several scenarios of Sano 'subduing' Hiruma. "I think I will stay with you."

"Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for your patience," the announcer called. "We're pleased to welcome you to Amateur Night at Caesar's Palace!"

"That's our cue," Aoshi nodded to Sano and they disappeared. Kenshin looked over at Kaoru and nodded, moving quickly to the other end of the room.

"First, a beauty from the Far East has come to sing a classic. Guys, grab your girl for this one, it's the perfect chance to get close. Ladies and gentlemen, Kitsune with _At Last_."

Somewhere in the back, Sano snorted. Kitsune… fox in Japanese. That fit just perfect for Megumi's perso…

The last thought died quickly as the orchestra began the first measures of the song. The lights came up on the stage and caught the silver sparkles of Megumi's long dress. It spilled on the floor in front of her, a long slit running up her leg to just below her hip. Her sleeveless arms rested on the microphone as she looked out in to the sea of people, long eyelashes blinking as she caught Hiruma's eye.

__

At last   
My love has come along   
My lonely days over   
And life is like a song 

It worked. Hiruma was completely transfixed. If it wasn't her beauty that caught him, her deep voice as it belted out the classic was a siren's song to him.

__

Ooh yeah, yeah

At last   
The skies above are blue   
My heart was wrapped up in clover   
The night I looked at you 

Across the floor, Kenshin and Kaoru slowly pushed their way into the crowd of people growing on the floor. It took a moment of embarrassed looks before they finally locked hands and started to sway with the rest of the group. Kaoru knew she should be making sure that Hiruma wasn't looking over at them. But… she was much more interested in the deep violet eyes that were staring at her from inches away.

__

I found a dream   
That I could speak to   
A dream that I could call my own   
I found a thrill   
To press my cheek to   
A thrill that I have never known 

Aoshi frowned from across the way. "What are they doing?" he mumbled under his breath. Sano was still staring at the stage. "They're supposed to be moving towards Hiruma not standing in place!"

He looked over at Sano and sighed. The plan was completely falling apart. Megumi was only supposed to enthrall Hiruma but the rest of his team was also under her spell. He hit Sano on the shoulder to get his attention back.

Sano blinked and Aoshi frowned. "Your friend is not following the plan," Aoshi stated. Sano looked over and caught a glimpse of the two dancing out in the middle of the floor.

"Oh, I think he is," Sano smiled.

__

Well, you smile   
You smile   
Oh and then the spell was cast 

Kaoru sighed and let her head fall forward onto his shoulder. This is how last night should have been. A magic show, dinner and dancing. But things had conspired against them and… well, was it so wrong to be a little bit selfish now? Just a few minutes, she said to herself with a smile. Just a few more minutes and she'd think about the plan at hand.

Kenshin looked down at Kaoru, as she smiled. It warmed him to the core to see her like that. Though the fact that she was this close was definitely helping that feeling. He wondered what might have happen last night if things hadn't gone so badly. But then… had it really been that bad?

He had been prepared to leave. He thought it was for the better. But the fact that she had stopped him… could it mean that she really wanted him around? She had taken him and Sano in without question but he couldn't help but worry that maybe they had overstayed their welcome.

She looked up and caught his eye, frowning a bit at the worry she saw there. So he smiled, because he knew it would perk her up again. And it did, she smiled back at him for a moment before it faded slightly as she looked into his eyes.

__

And here we are in heaven   
For you are mine at last 

This should have been it. That moment that had been building for almost a year. The mood was right, they were five centimeters from each other already in a tight embrace. He moved his head down to close the gap and her eyes closed slightly…

And then someone jostled them from behind and Kenshin had to fight to keep his balance. Kaoru looked over angrily at the people who had just ruined the moment and then almost laughed out loud.

Aoshi frowned and looked over his dance partner. Sano didn't look too happy either. Of course, he had been relegated to the position of woman in this strange little couple. People were giving them room as they moved towards the middle of the floor.

"What are you doing?" Aoshi hissed.

"Dancing," Kaoru said quickly. "Like the plan said."

"The plan was to move towards Hiruma," Aoshi replied. "Not stand in one place."

Kaoru blushed. He had her there. She looked over to see how far they were from Hiruma… only he wasn't there.

"Where's Hiruma?" she asked.

"Where's Megumi?" Sano added looking up at the empty stage.

Aoshi frowned. "So much for the plan," he said, shooting an angry look at Kenshin.

***

Megumi waved off the stage and quickly disappeared into the back. Okay… that hadn't been too bad. If anything, the look on Sano's face when she had started singing was well worth the humiliation of prancing around the stage like a lounge singer.

She started to head towards the dressing room to get out of "sardine" dress when she ran into someone who definitely should not have been there. But she couldn't freak out or she'd break her 'cover' as Kaoru said.

"Hello," Hiruma said in Japanese. "I see we let another bit of perfection leave our country."

Megumi forced the smile. The slime might as well have been dripping out of this man's mouth the way he spoke. Actually… it looked like he had gotten most of it in his hair.

"You are… too kind," Megumi smiled.

"I was hoping you would sing for me… privately…"

Not for all the tea in China, Megumi thought as she kept the smile in place. "I appreciate the offer but I'm not good enough to sing for someone of your prominence alone."

Throw up later, Megumi said to herself. Now, just keep smiling until everyone else gets here.

"You must have been taught by the sweetest nightingale to speak and sing like that."

"Oh you are too ki… sweet," she said, running out of adjectives. He wasn't exactly inspiring her to think of them.

"Or maybe an angel taught you?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Then who did, sweet pea?"

Megumi's eyebrow twitched. And with good reason. Her dream trip to Las Vegas had steadily eroded into a nightmarish vacation with loud companions, obnoxious and double crossing colleagues and the last thing she needed was to be called "sweet pea" by a creep like this.

"You want to know who taught me to sing?"

"Sure sugar."

"My good friend. Want to see me _sing_?" she asked saying the last word in English.

"Of course, honey."

"Sing… SOLAR PLEXUS!" Megumi cried landing a nice punch in his stomach. "INSTEP!" Her heeled foot crashed on his toe. "NOSE!" She grabbed on his nose pulling him towards her rather painfully. "GROIN!" And knee made contact with the one place all men dread it to.

Hiruma collapsed to the ground. Megumi tossed her hair over her shoulder just as the rest group found her. "Sing," she said with a smile to them. "Thanks Kaoru for teaching me that."

Kaoru looked at Hiruma and cringed slightly for good reason. Well… at least they had finally caught him. Now, they just needed to get the information out of him… as soon as he stopped crying that is.


	10. Chapter 10

****

Author's note : I'll keep this short since this is a bit delayed in getting released. I had to finish another story but now that it's done, I can turn back to this one. I love your comments guys! I want to answer them all but I'm starting to take up an entire page to do so! Needless to say, I read each and every one of them and smile. I'll try to answer a few next time.

And yes, SING is pretty damn funny. I hope you find this chapter funny as well.

As for Misao… well, you'll have to wait a bit so I don't want to ruin the surprise ^_^

****

Chapter 10

The limo door opened and a long leg stretched out before making contact with the ground. As soon as the high heel had settled, the rest followed, billowing out of the car like a red tide until she was standing beneath the lights of the casino. With a flick of her head, Tokio's long black whipped behind and landed on her back, covering up the embroidery of the Mandarin styled red dress.

She took a few steps forward, falling into place next to Saitou. They waited for a moment before the last passenger stepped out. His long white jacket brushed the carpet as he straightened himself. He looked over at his two lieutenants with a nod. Now was as good a time as ever.

Tokio strode purposefully, her knees barely bending as she strode across the casino floor to the elevators. The slits of the dress revealed porcelain skin but anyone who stole a glance at her was met with a feeling of impending doom as Saitou caught them in his golden eyes.

They entered the elevator, making it known to the group of tourists assembled in front of it that they were taking this one alone. Saitou leaned forward and hit the penthouse button before stepping back and pulling out a cigarette. It was still smoking in his mouth when the elevator stopped and let them out at the right floor.

Two bodyguards stared at them as they approached. One of them nodded at the group and motioned with his arms. Hiko and Saitou complied, raising their arms and letting the body guards pat them down. They were nodded towards the door while the men looked at the remaining person.

Tokio smiled a bit as one of them walked forward. He patted her waist first and then a bit lower then he should have before trailing two callused hands down her outer leg. As soon as he reached her ankles, Tokio leaned forward with a winning smile.

"You can keep searching if you want," she said with a deep voice, "but I don't think you'll survive the encounter."

The bodyguard blinked and then slowly turned around, paling suddenly as he felt death staring him down. The guard stood up quickly and ushered her inside. Tokio's smile never faltered and she threw a wink at her husband. His jealousy was… useful.

Inside, Yumi sat on a loveseat, her low cut dress draped over most of the furniture. Next to her stood a man with a bandage over his eyes and strong arms crossed over his chest. She smiled as she caught sight of Tokio as the group walked in, followed closely by the two bodyguards.

"I see you are well," she smiled.

"As are you," Tokio replied. Their exchanges always began this way though it was obvious neither of the woman wished well on the other.

"Let's get this over with," Hiko said gruffly. 

"Of course," Yumi said. "We want to discuss ownership of several casinos in this city."

"Our casinos," Tokio filled in.

"Yes. We're interested in acquiring them."

"We're not selling," Tokio said quickly, earning her a glance from Hiko. 

"I think you'll find our terms… fair."

"Fair for you."

"Really, do you have to be so disagreeable?"

"Only when it comes to you," Tokio smiled.

"Ladies," Hiko said finally, coming in between them before a fight broke out. "Let's be civil here. This is a business meeting, not Friday night mud wrestling." He couldn't help to smile a bit at the image though. He cleared his throat and turned to Yumi. "Exactly what are your terms?"

Yumi snapped her fingers. A door opened to the side and a group of men armed with swords stepped inside. The room wasn't small but it certainly wasn't built to accommodate this many people.

"I believe this is how you men like to fight," Yumi said. 

Hiko shot her a look. Right, this was the way… only they liked to have swords to fight back with. He looked over at Tokio and she smiled, casting a little glance at Yumi before she moved.

Tokio's legs bent downwards and she fell into a squat, her knees spread apart just enough so that the fabric of her dress fell in between them. The guard suddenly realized that no mater how deadly Saitou's glare had been the real danger had been in not completing his search.

Two swords were strapped inside her leg, the hilts bent slightly so they were undetectable when she walked. Moving her hands quickly, she clicked the hilts into place just as Saitou and Hiko leaned down to pull the now straight swords out of the sheaths. 

While they took care of the approaching gang, Tokio unstrapped the sheaths and let them dropped as she stood up, pulling the final weapon from her inner thigh. The small pistol reared up and pointed right at a surprised Yumi.

***

"Start talking now!"

"No way!! I'll be killed!"

"You think that's better then what will happen to you if you don't start talking?"

Hiruma blinked and looked up at his group of accusers. First there was the ex-assassin, whose eyes were almost gleaming like Hiruma remembered from the past. Then there was the psycho cop who tried to arrest him in the airport. Then there was the cold stare he was getting from the guy who had almost shot him to bits in the casino. And finally the scary woman in the silver dress who had damaged him in ways he didn't want to remember.

Now this guy who was vaguely familiar was yelling at him while he was tied to this chair and all Hiruma could think about was how he wanted to be back home in Japan. This trip had been a disaster every step of the way!

"Forget it, he ain't talking," Sano said throwing up his hands and walking out into the living room of the Bellagio.

Megumi followed after a moment with a sigh. "I could always try 'persuading' him again," she said causing all the men to reflexively cringe.

"I think we should get him some ice, de gozaru."

Megumi rolled her eyes. "I'll do it. Being a doctor, I should show some compassion, even for vermin like him. " She walked past Aoshi to get some ice from the sink. She threw it in a bag and moved into the room frowning at Kaoru as the younger girl looked on.

"I still think that we should have brought him someplace else," Megumi said.

Kaoru shrugged slightly. "There was no where else. Besides, they bought the whole 'drunk friend' story downstairs."

Megumi shook her head. "It's just… if anything happens, the room is in my name and it will get back to the University."

"Mou, Megumi-chan," Kaoru replied crossing her hands over her chest. "I promise nothing will happen."

Megumi's frown didn't change. She walked forward and dumped the bag on ice on Hiruma's lap. A string of curses followed and Megumi shot him a dangerous look.

"Just be happy that I actually care enough about my oath to try to relieve your discomfort."

"By throwing a bag of ice on me?" Hiruma screamed.

"If you're going to be like that…"

"Forget it," Hiruma interrupted. "Can you at least open a window? It's really hot in here."

Megumi paused and looked over at Kaoru. The younger girl frowned and shrugged. "I think they can open."

Megumi nodded and walked towards the window, Kaoru watching Hiruma as she did. There was a noise in the living room and Kaoru's head whipped around, watching Sano hop around, cursing about stubbing his toe.

She should have been watching the room, so of course the minute she turned away, Hiruma moved, putting his feet on the ground and bending downwards to lift the chair off the ground. He charged, knocking into Megumi just as she finished opening the window.

"MEGUMI!" Kaoru yelled, running past the now retreating Hiruma and pitching her upper body out the window.

"KAORU!" Megumi cried, barely hanging onto ledge. Kaoru got a good grasp on her wrist just as Megumi's grip let go. The sudden rush of gravity pulled her out of the window too and she didn't have something to grab on to.

Two hands grabbed her ankles as Kenshin managed to get a grip but he was no match for the weight of two women and started sliding to the edge. Running after Hiruma had never been an issue for him, the scared cries of the two women making him dash from the other room here. Of course, he should have thought this plan through a bit more.

"Oro?" he said, suddenly finding himself picked off the ground and being pulled back into the room. As soon as he had cleared the window, Sano unceremoniously dumped him on the floor as Aoshi got a grip on Kaoru. Sano moved to the window quickly and pulled in Megumi.

"Hiruma!" Kaoru cried, noticing their only clue was gone. In a tangled mess, the group piled out of the bedroom and into the living room, only to find no Hiruma and a swinging door that marked his retreat.

Kenshin moved out into the hall, using his speed to run towards the elevators just as they closed shut. An aggravated punch landed on the wall next to him as Kenshin pushed the down button. He looked up with Sano with a frown and turned back to the elevator.

"I'm taking the stairs," he said, running and opening the nearby door. 

"Wait!" Megumi called out, following him quickly. Cursing she opened the door and ran to the railing. "You MORON! This is the fire exit." She heard the echo of footsteps followed quickly by a closing door. She turned around and pulled on the door only to find it locked. 

Her banging went unnoticed as the remaining group piled into the elevator and pounded on the Lobby button. The ride took about thirty seconds but it felt like an eternity.

"Spread out," Aoshi said, sending Kaoru and Kenshin in opposite directions.

Kaoru was not happy. She knew it was her fault Megumi almost got killed and that Hiruma got away. She was going to find that little creep and make sure he paid for all the problems he caused.

Hiruma, meanwhile, was attempting to run away as fast as possible. But it was rather hard to do so while strapped to a chair. People were shooting him weird glance but no one was really making a move to help him and he wasn't about to ask. He just wanted to get the hell out of this place.

Kaoru finally caught sight of him and rushed to catch him. Hiruma barely had a chance to prepare as she grabbed the back of the chair and slammed it in the ground.

"GOT YOU!"

"Goddamn it!" Hiruma cursed. "What the hell is your problem?? First you tackle me on the baggage carousel, then in that bunny suit, then the high roller room! Don't you ever get TIRED?!"

"Listen here," Kaoru said staring at him. "I've had about enough of you so shut up and start behaving unless you want me to really discipline you."

"Excuse me." Kaoru and Hiruma turned as a security guard came up to them. "This is a family establishment and I'm afraid we can't allow your 'game' to continue."

Kaoru blinked. Game? She looked at the guard and then down at Hiruma who was still tied up in the chair. Her eyes glanced down at the wet patch on his pants from the ice bag Megumi had put there minutes ago. Her mind replayed the last few bits of her conversation and her face flamed red.

"Sir, I assure you," Kaoru said firmly. "It's not what you think."

"What does he think?" Hiruma asked confused.

"Never mind," Kaoru hissed. 

"Then exactly what is it?" the guard asked.

Kaoru paused and tried to think. Let's see. Either she would just have to lie and say that this was indeed a bit of S&M action that got out of hand or she would tell him the truth, that she had kidnapped Hiruma and was questioning him on the whereabouts of a secret Japanese yakuza base so she could save the city from a biological weapon.

She looked down at Hiruma, the greasy man staring at her with anger, his chubby hands trying to work through the knots. He was slime and Kaoru was… well not slime. And there was no way in all the seven hells that she would ever be caught with a man like that doing… doing…

Okay Kaoru, think. Exactly which one of those approaches would be more believable?

She took in a deep breath. "Sorry officer… we'll be more careful in the future."

"Right and keep in your room."

Kaoru blushed deeper. "Yes sir."

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Hiruma screamed. "This chick kidnapped me!!"

"Now now… lover," Kaoru continued, attempting not to retch. "Let's just go back upstairs."

"You goddamn bitch!" Hiruma yelled.

Kaoru grabbed the back of the chair and began to drag it through the casino, cursing under her breath. Hiruma didn't stop yelling obscenities the entire time and Kaoru just stomped quickly, pulling the chair with strength she wouldn't normally have if she weren't this embarrassed.

She was almost in the clear. She could see Kenshin and Aoshi staring at her with pale faces trapped between shock and desire to kill Hiruma as she walked towards them, obviously having overheard everything. So she was almost in the clear… almost. Until everyone wiped out their cameras again.

***

Somewhere in the bowels of the Bellagio, Sano stopped and got to the final step. He placed his hands on his knees and took a few deep breaths. He walked towards the door and flung it open, stumbling outside.

He paused and looked around, rather surprised to find himself outside. 

"What the hell?" Sano cried looking around. "Where am I?"

The door opened behind him and Megumi stumbled out. She was breathing faster then he was and she shot him a nasty look.

"Baka… tori… atama," she gasped. "This was… a fire… exit."

Sano looked at her. "You came all the way to tell me that?"

"I got locked… out trying to… catch you…"

Sano's eyebrow raised a bit. "You mean you chased after me? Wow, megitsune, I didn't know you cared so… OW! LET GO OF MY EAR!!"

Megumi ignored him as she pulled him around the building through the entrance of the casino. People cast them weird looks as they moved through the lobby but Megumi didn't stop.

"Not another one," the security guard said as they passed. He watched them head for the elevator and decided he had had to deal with enough weirdness today. 

Megumi let Sano go as soon as they were in the room. Kaoru was lying on the couch, her head hidden under a pillow.

"Did you find Hiruma?" Megumi asked. The pillow nodded. "Is he here?" The pillow moved again. "What happened?" The pillow shook back and forth feverishly.

The bedroom door flew open and a still aggravated looking Kenshin and Aoshi walked out. 

"What the hell happened?" Sano asked but the cold looks Kenshin and Aoshi were shooting him made him realize the question was never going to be answered.

"Let's get going," Aoshi said firmly.

"Where are we going?" Megumi asked.

"The Hoover Dam."

***

Tokio fired a few shots at Yumi but the man next to her moved quickly and got her out of the way. Tokio frowned but realized she had more pressing targets as Hiko and Saitou began to fall back against the rush.

Shooting their attackers should have been like firing in barrel but with her two companions moving so quickly in the mix, it was next to impossible to get a clear shot. She looked over her shoulder and realized Yumi was gone, along with her bodyguard.

Saitou was moving like a fish through the seaweed, his lanky body squeezing through spaces between the mob as his sword made contact. There was no room for fancy moves here. He needed to clear out the room and fast.

Whatever surgery he had had was clearly no longer effecting Hiko. He moved quickly and his strength was the perfect compliment to Saitou. His swipes were devastating, quickly decimating the remaining forces.

Something caught both their eyes and they barely had time to react as the blindfolded assassin returned to fray. Saitou caught his sword, deflecting it at the last second as Hiko tried to strike. But the assassin jumped out of the way and the rest of the mob pressed against them again.

Tokio watched the situation unfold and frowned deeply. The mob of men was no longer the real danger. She watched as the assassin moved back towards the fight, heading straight for Saitou, who was a bit busy with three opponents.

"Hajime!" she called, moving quickly. He looked up just as she pushed him away, feeling the assassin's sword run through her shoulder. The sword pushed through, coming out of her back.

Usui smiled a bit, feeling the sword make contact but knowing it wasn't Saitou. Still that woman was the cause of all their problems and finishing her off would be a satisfying start to the evening.

He started to move the sword, only half of the blade embedded in Tokio's shoulder, dragging it downward towards vital organs. But suddenly, Tokio's arms snapped upwards, both hands grabbing his wrists. With a quick motion, she drove him and the rest of his sword towards her. 

If Usui's eyes weren't covered, she would have seen the blink of surprise over her move. But she was satisfied with the grunt of pain as she drove her knee into his stomach before wobbling backwards. 

As soon as she was clear, Saitou swung, catching the off guard assassin in his chest and pinning him to the nearby wall. He turned to see Tokio knelt on the ground, the sword still embedded in her shoulder.

"Get her to a hospital," Hiko said, finishing off the last man. His pocket rang and he pulled out the phone, relaying the information to the other person. He shut off the phone and watched as Saitou was picking Tokio off the floor.

"Any word?" Saitou asked.

Hiko nodded. "They're on the move. I'll meet the helicopter and follow them."

"I'll…" 

But Hiko was out the door. Saitou was almost grateful that he got left behind. Looking down at the unconscious form of his wife, he sighed and shook his head. She was going to drive him insane one day.

***

"Just let me drive!" Kaoru said.

"NO!" came the resounding cry as the group piled into the Jeep.

"Mou… that's not fair."

"Kaoru," Megumi said looking at her from the passenger seat, "we were lucky to find a car rental place this late at night. And they only have one car left, so we can't let you wreck this."

Kaoru's face was shocked. "I have never… well, okay there was that one time… twice… just a few…"

"Get in the car, jou-chan," Sano said pulling her into the car and onto his lap. Kaoru quickly swatted his hands away and slide in between him and Kenshin, the latter giving a rather not too friendly looking at his friend.

Megumi caught the act from the rear view mirror and pulled the lever next to her seat, quickly backed the seat into Sano's knees. 

"OW!" he cried out, as Megumi righted the chair again. "What the hell was that for!"

"Like you don't know," Megumi said harshly under her breath. 

Sano frowned and was about to say more when he got a good look at the reflection of Aoshi's face. Apparently now was the time to be fighting. Aoshi pulled the brake up and backed up the car, tearing up the road as he moved.

"AOSHI! WE'RE NOT IN JAPAN! GET ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD!!" Kaoru screamed.

Aoshi swerved, jumping over the medium and causing a few cars to swerve from him. Kaoru started to uncurl, looking at the front of the car again to see if things were better. She started to relax, realizing the death grip she had on… 

Kaoru blinked and looked up at the poor swirly-eyed redhead. Apparently, she had clutched onto the nearest thing and that had proven to be the neck of the poor man. With a grimace, she patted his shoulder and looked innocently back towards the front.

***

Tokio's eyes fluttered opened and she took in her surroundings. First the clock. She had lost about an hour already. That was enough to make her frown. Moving up into the hospital bed just deepened it. Her shoulder really hurt. Looking down, she saw the bandages under the hospital gown.

She looked over at the chair by the door and saw Saitou sitting there with his eyes closed. Tokio's lip flickered into a smile. Sleeping?

She sat up and softly shifted towards the edge of the bed. Saitou's eyes suddenly snapped open and looked at her.

Tokio smiled at him. Saitou shook his head.

Tokio pouted a bit. Saitou crossed her arms.

Anger flashed through her eyes. His eyes never blinked.

She looked at him a bit pleadingly. He raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

She sighed frustrated. He smiled a bit in victory.

Tokio smiled suddenly. Saitou's smile faltered.

Tokio leaned forward, letting the gown fall off her shoulder. Saitou's eyebrow furrowed.

She bit her lip a bit. He glanced at the window of the closed door.

She leaned back into the bed, letting her good arm stretch above her head. He stood up and walked towards her.

She used a long leg to hook him around the waist and pull him forward. His hands fell to either side of her.

Her good arms moved from above her head into the space between his jacket and shirt. He eyed her bare shoulder and moved to reveal a bit more.

She pulled out his cell phone from the inner pocket and speed dialed the number.

"Get the boys together," Tokio said into the phone. "We're going exterminating tonight. Have the limo outside in fifteen minutes."

Saitou's head sank and he looked up at her, watching her smile in victory. One of these days, he was going to win one of their little duels.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's note: Sorry folks. I know this took a while but the last two weeks were complete insanity. I had visitors at my house and then went away on a much needed vacation to California but jet lag caught up with me finally.

Anyway, I was stuck in limbo last week so I did the only thing a half-coherent fanfic writer can do… read lots of fan fiction. It went something like this:

1. Did a Midori run which will always leave you warm and fuzzy.  
2. Read the end of Defying Gravity by dementedchris and marveled at the great writing style again which meant I lost the WAFFy feeling because… wow… sad stuff in that (but a nice ending ^_^)  
3. Went through most of chibi-angel's stuff and got warm and fuzzy again.  
4. Started to read new stuff. Favorites are currently : Broken Piece by Linay, both stories by Chiki, An Alternate Time and Place by Kyaa-Kyaff and Tanuki To Ryuu A Tale of a Meiji Romance by ChaosBurnFlame because Kaoru kicks ass in that story.

As a teacher of mine once said "A true writer spend 20 percent of their time planning, 10 percent of their time writing and the rest reading what else is out there."

Sorry for the delay again. I have the next chapter completely planned out so barring anything really chaotic over here, it'll be out soon and yes it's the last chapter. Tossing around the idea of a third installment because I'll have loose ends to tie up after this and because I love Europe, especially Venice and I think the Canals of Venice just sounds cool.

Yuki and Nemo, I so owe you e-mail. I've just been half dead most of these past two weeks. I'll get back to you guys sometime during the week.

* * *

Chapter 11

"So we have a plan right?" Kaoru asked, leaning forward from her seat in the middle to squeeze between the two front seats and talk to the people there. Aoshi looked forward at the road impassively. Kaoru frowned. 

"Kaoru-dono is right," Kenshin said leaning forward as well, trying to ignore the fact that there wasn't that much space between the two of them. "We should think about what we're going to do. After all, I don't think the dam will be open to visitors this late."

"And it's a US government property," Kaoru added. "With everything that's been going on lately, they'll have armed guards."

"We'll just beat through them!" Sano said squeezing forward too. Of course attempting to fit three people in the tiny crevasse proved too much.

"Baka!" Kaoru cried, feeling herself get wedged in between the two. "Get back in your seat."

"OI! I was just trying to help!"

"How is cramming yourself up here helping??"

"There was enough room but I guess someone has been enjoying the buffets too much!!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"Maa maa, let's not…"

There was a screech the trio was lurched forward and then thrown back in their seats. Aoshi glared at them from the rearview mirror while Megumi turned around to berate them with words.

"Stop fighting!" she yelled. "If you so much as utter another peep before we get to the dam, I will have Aoshi stop this car and you can WALK back to Vegas."

The three in the back lowered their heads and Aoshi revved up the car, turning back onto the highway and speeding through the darkness.

Two minutes passed before Megumi heard it. She threw an angry look behind her but the three in the back were still looking at the ground. Then it happened again. This time Kaoru wasn't fast enough and the smirk was still on her face. Megumi stared at her angrily.

"Kamiya Kaoru, what is so…"

Kaoru couldn't help it. She started laughing out loud. And it didn't take long before Sano and Kenshin to join in. 

"Okay… MOM," Kaoru finally managed.

Megumi glared and then broke out into a half smile before she joined in the laughter. Aoshi shot her an unhappy glance.

His foot trailed towards the brake, ready to slam on it and break the rest of them out of their laughter. Had they all gone insane? How were they laughing at a moment like this? Everything was on the line now. If they failed in meeting and defeating the Juppongatana, Las Vegas was doomed. The whole world was doomed. Misao was doomed.

There was so much riding on them right now that it tore at Aoshi's mind, the way they could be laughing. But then he heard it, beneath all the laughter there was another sound. Relief. It wasn't that they all were ignoring the impending events. They knew what was riding on this, they knew the seriousness of the situation. This was just their release.

His foot moved away from the brake and pressed firmly on the gas. "If you are done playing around, I believe we need a plan," he said.

Kaoru caught his eyes in the rear view and giggled. "Sure thing, Dad."

***

Misao sat on the bed and let her feet dangled off the edge. Bored as not the word for how she felt. Completely and utterly devoid of any feeling but boredom was a much closer approximation to what was pounding in her head. Quarantine was horrible and all there was to do was get stuck with needles and try to ignore the worried looks doctors kept giving her.

That's it! Misao thought to herself. I am not sitting on this bed anymore. Even if I am stuck in quarantine, there should be a computer or something I could use to help. I'm not an invalid, I just have a couple of bumps on me.

Looking around, she searched for anything useful but all she saw were health monitors. She'd have to go outside to really search. Her bare feet hit the ground and she tried to ignore how cold the marble floor was. The monitors started to blip as she moved away. She pulled the IV bag behind her and headed towards the office door, opening it to glance down the main hallway.

It was still rather amazing how quickly the CDC had converted the office building into a makeshift hospital and research center. Office rooms became hospital bedrooms, conference rooms were labs, and the hallways were lined with sterile plastic making the whole place sanitary.

A couple of guards in Hazmat suits heading at her but she just looked a bit embarrassed and pointed down the hall to the bathrooms. It was enough to convince them there wasn't really a problem anyway and let her continue her search. 

Halfway to the bathroom, Misao saw it sitting on a desk. Walking in, she quickly headed towards the laptop, surprised to find it on. Looking at the screen, she realized it didn't belong to the office building but to one of the CDC researchers. A complex 3D model spun and Misao couldn't help but stare. It was obviously a model of what was causing all this hubbub. Funny, it looked almost deceptively simple like that.

Suddenly there was a long wail and Misao jumped away from the computer. It took her a second to realize it wasn't coming from the laptop but from outside. Slowly pulling the IV with her, Misao stepped outside, almost getting run over by a number of doctors ran past her.

Curious, Misao walked towards the room they had disappeared into. She heard a lot of yelling and something in her told her to stop, to not look at what was going on. But she couldn't stop. And when she arrived at the door, she wished she had listened to that little voice.

One of the other patients was thrashing on the bed. Two large soldiers were trying to hold him down but agony was giving the man unfathomable strength. A doctor gave him an injection but it did nothing. The heart monitors were going off the wall and underneath their wail, Misao could barely hear what the doctors were saying.

The patient turned his head towards her and Misao saw it, pure agony caused by the final stage of the disease. His neck was only visibly affected part but she could see from the bumps in the gown that it had reached his chest. But it wasn't his face or his disfigured body that was scaring her down to the core, it was the look in his eyes as he stared at her, pleadingly, begging her to make it end.

It suddenly occurred to Misao, the way Aoshi had reacted, the way they doted on her here, the way the man looked just now… it may have looked simple on a screen but this wasn't simple at all. And it was going to kill her.

***

The night's sky was barely visible beneath the harsh lights that illuminated the Hoover Dam. Her dress barely made a sound as she strode across, heading towards the man who stood in the middle.

Yumi smiled. Things were going very well tonight. Despite having let Saitou and Hiko escape, she had done her job. The Hiten organization was as crippled as Tokio and wouldn't be a factor. And after tonight, she was going to be queen to a new empire, Shishio's empire. 

Her only regret was that he couldn't be here himself to watch it unfold. But his wounds were still healing and if there were a firefight, then he would be in danger. Yumi's eyes flicked over as one of her henchman brought Madgaria over next to her.

She smiled as she looked at the man in front of her. "One sister as promised."

Shougo looked at her with pure venom. "Sayo, are you all right?"

The nun slowly nodded her head and looked up him with the smallest smile.

"Payment first," Yumi said, stepping in front of the girl.

Shougo reached into his pocket, causing the guards next to Yumi to tense for a moment. She held up her hand as Shougo pulled up the tiny plastic case. He tossed it over to her and she caught it with ease, handing it quickly back a man holding a laptop.

"My sister," Shougo said evenly.

"One minute," Yumi smiled. "We need to check the merchandise."

Shougo hid his nervousness well. Looking over at his sister he nodded slightly to let her know that everything was going to be okay. It was a bit too early to do so. Yumi's gun shot up and pressed against Magdaria's temple.

"Password," Yumi said evenly.

Shougo shook his head. "I want my sister back first."

"The deal was the cure."

"The information is there."

"Encrypted with a password that is threatening to erase the disk in thirty minutes."

Shougo shook his head. Yumi pressed the gun to Magdaria's head and the younger girl blinked nervously. She looked up at her brother and he read it in her eyes. He knew she was right… but he couldn't bring himself to make the right decision.

"The password," Shougo started. "The password…" He stopped for a moment.

"Yes?" Yumi asked. "You have until the count of five before I spread your lovely sister's brains across half this dam."

Shougo looked at her and tried to steady himself.

"Five."

He looked around, desperately searching for a way out.

"Four."

"Sayo…" he started.

"Three."

She smiled at him, a sad smile of what she knew was coming. 

"Two."

"STOP!" Shougo shouted. "Just stop."

"Good," Yumi said. "I would hate to have things end this way after all the trouble we went through to keep her alive. I think you would understand that."

"Don't do it, Shougo," Magdaria pleaded.

"I can't let it end like this," Shougo said firmly. He turned to Yumi. "I don't know the password. Only Sayo does."

Yumi blinked and looked down at the girl in her arms. "What? That's absolutely ridiculous! Why wouldn't you know the password to your own files?"

"You must really think I'm stupid," Shougo shot back. "When your man made me that offer and I refused, did you really think I believed you would leave us alone? That disc is the only place my research is stored. But it wouldn't be enough. I know how you yakuza work."

"Apparently not too well," Yumi replied. "We got into your lab and stole the original virus."

"A mistake on my part," Shougo replied, "but I knew it would be useless to you without the cure. So after you broke in, we destroyed everything there and stored the information on this disc. I encrypted the data and let Sayo pick the password."

Yumi paused and looked at him with a slight smile. "Of course. You knew we would take her hostage."

"And kill her when I refused to cooperate," he said softly. "It would be quick, though. Quicker than anything you planned to get the password out of me. And in the end, you'd still have nothing."

Yumi laughed. "How endearingly noble! You were both going to die to save the world but the brother will take the torture to spare his sister." She shook her head. The tech behind her whispered something and the amusement slipped from her eyes. "The password now," she said turning down to the girl, "or we'll start on what your brother feared so much."

"Sayo will tell you the password," Shougo started, "as soon she has driven away from…"

"NO!" Yumi and Magdaria said at the same time.

"No one is leaving until I get that password," Yumi added.

"I won't tell them," Magdaria said plainly.

"Please, Sayo, just get away, they can't kill you until they know the password," Shougo said.

"This wasn't the plan!" she cried.

"I spent my entire career trying to save you," Shougo continued evenly. "I'm not going to let it end like this, not when I am so close in fulfilling that."

The approaching vehicles quickly drowned off Yumi's long triage of expletives. Their descent onto the dam had not been noticeable until the very end and she barely had time to call out a command before the gunfire started.

Dragging the girl by the collar, Yumi dove for cover, barely registering that Shougo had just gone down in a hail of bullets. Pulling out a pistol, Yumi looked to the end of the dam that the attack was coming from with a frown. It couldn't be…

Tokio watched the fight from the safety of the ridge high above the action. She wasn't happy to be here but it was the one concession she allowed her husband and Hiko. The only true regret she had was not being able to see the look on Yumi's face when she realized that the Hiten wasn't about to back down.

Yumi was cursing, angry that everything was going to hell. Somehow, their location had been found out. Worse than that, Tokio was apparently coherent enough to round up her troops. It couldn't get much worse then this, right?

***

Misao ran back into the office and slammed the door shut, locking it behind her. She took in a few deep breaths until her heart stopped pounding against her chest. She tried to banish the thoughts of that soldier's agony but it seemed forever burned in her memory. Looking down at her own hands, she couldn't help but notice that the little bumps had grown and were moving up her arms.

Screw that, her inner voice said. You are Misao Makimachi. And Misao Makimachi is not going down without a fight.

She moved to the laptop and quickly minimized everything, locating the dos prompt and using it to telnet into the JIA system at home. It took a few seconds before everything was set up and running.

A little message box popped up and Misao jumped as she read the message. Quickly she typed a reply.

Okina… yeah it's me and no I'm not in bed. Need some help. 

Misao watched the screen and waited for a response, fingers crossed. She knew her boss would either call the CDC right away and inform them she was out of her bed or maybe, he would let curiosity get the better of him.

__

Go ahead

Misao smiled. 

Need to figure out how to get into the Juppongatana system and get the cure.

__

They don't have it. 

What?

__

Long story. Aoshi and company are trying to get it now.

Where are they?

__

Somewhere outside of Las Vegas… heading towards the Hoover Dam.

I'll call him. Start bringing up information on the dam.

__

Okay. Tell them to be careful. Things are about to get more interesting there.

What do you mean?

***

Aoshi let the jeep turn off the main road and head down the dirt path. If the map Megumi was holding was right, they should be able to come to an unguarded part of the cliff surrounding the Dam. After that… well, that part of the plan was still being worked on.

"We don't have repelling equipment," Kaoru sighed, "so we can't climb below the guard station. There could be maintenance entrances…"

"But looking for them would take too long," Kenshin filled in. His brow furrowed in thought. The first part of the plan was the only logical recourse. They couldn't just charge through the main gate. It was going to be guarded by Juppongatana guards and they would create too much commotion trying to get past them. Swimming through the water would have been another way but… there was no way to predict currents and he didn't think floating through the Hoover Dam's water works would be a fun trip.

"What the…" Sano said, watching as the Hoover Dam came into view.

Kenshin blinked, pushing his thoughts away to see what Sano was speaking about. At first he thought it was the sheer grandeur of the dam itself. Even at a moment like this it was hard not to marvel at what humans could build if they put their minds to it.

But all thoughts of humanity's greatness was lost in the tell tale signs of gunfire. There was a nasty fight going on top of the dam. Kenshin frowned and strained his eyes to examine the figures illuminated by the artificial lighting of the bridge. No, the Juppongatana were not fighting the Dam's guards. They had probably eliminated them before every stepping foot onto the structure. 

"What's going on?" Kaoru said as Aoshi stopped the car.

"Looks like the Hiten just joined the party," Kenshin said unhappily, opening the door and stepping outside.

"Are you sure?" Sano asked.

Kenshin stared at the firefight and nodded slowly. There was no mistaking the tall gait of his shishou even crouched down and so far away.

"Well, that makes things difficult," Megumi replied. They sat in silence for a minute before a melodic tune suddenly filled the air. Aoshi moved quickly and frowned at the unknown on his phone.

"Hello?"

***

"Aoshi!" Misao cried as soon as he picked up.

Mi… Misao? Is everything all right?

She blushed a bit at his concern and pushed on. "Hai. Listen, I'm calling to help you a bit. The Hoover Dam is very complicated but I think…"

Misao! Why aren't you in bed?

She paused. "Never mind about that now. Listen to me…"

This is not the time. We can han…

"NO YOU CAN'T!" Misao yelled, trying to push away her tears but the image of the soldier was burning in her mind. She couldn't end up like that. 

Misao?

She broke the sudden silence. "Listen to me, things are about to get very messy over there. You'll only have a few minutes before…"

Things are already 'messy'..

"The US Army arrived already? But they're mission plan said they wouldn't get there for another ten minutes."

***

Aoshi blinked. The US Army? But that wasn't the US Army on the dam right now. "No, it looks like the Juppongatana and the Hiten are the ones right now fighting each other."

Then it's going to get a lot worse. The Army sending out a task force. Looks like everyone figured out things at the same time. The cure is up there, right?

Aoshi frowned at the almost pleading nature of her voice. "We thinks so, yes."

Then listen to me. I've got your cell phone location so I can lead you to a maintenance shaft from where you are. I've got some of the guys back home working to disable the security systems so you won't attract too much attention. You need to move fast because once the Army gets there, it's just going to be a blood bath.

"All right. Start directing."

Give the phone to Himura.

Aoshi blinked. "What?"

Your arm is still broken.

He looked down at his bandaged arm. "You're not exactly one to be talking about going in with injur…"

Aoshi, there's a lot of climbing involved in this. Give the phone to Himura.

Aoshi paused and thought about it. She was right. He knew that. The splints allowed him limited movement, enough to drive a car but climbing…

"Misao," he said softly. "When this is over…"

I know, we'll have a nice long talk.

He frowned. It wasn't what he meant to say but he handed the phone over to Kenshin who began talking with Misao as Aoshi filled in the rest of the group on what was going on.

"Sano," Kenshin said turning to the tall man. "You'll come with me. The rest of you stay here and get ready to move if the army…"

"Wait a minute!" Kaoru cried, moving towards him. "Why is Sano going?"

"Because I'll need someone strong and tall enough to help boost me in some place," Kenshin explained.

"Then I'll come with you too," she said firmly.

"You need to stay here and make sure that Megumi and Aoshi are safe," he said.

Kaoru frowned. She knew he was right. But it didn't make it any easier. "Just… come back, okay?" she said softly, looking at the ground.

He reached out and took her chin in his hand, lifting her head up. "You know I will. Because…" he said, catching her eyes. "Because…" he repeated softly.

Kaoru's eyes blinked, watching his violet eye search hers. Her heart starting to beat a bit faster. Was he going to say…

"I owe you two months rent," he said with a smile and a small blush.

Kaoru blinked and blushed. Baka, she chided herself as he walked away. Exactly what did you expect him to say? Of course… when she had said it, she had had a double meaning behind it. Maybe…

"Oi, no lovey words for me, kitsune?" Sano called out, following behind Kenshin.

"How about don't get too shot up," Megumi called out.

Sano smiled. "I didn't know you cared!"

"I don't!" Megumi yelled back. "That's why I'm not putting you back together if you do!"

With a trail of expletives, Sano disappeared down the shaft, followed by Kenshin who was listening to Misao's explanations.

***

Yumi cursed. She had been doing a lot of that. But at least she could take refuge in the fact that after their initial surprise, her boys were starting to come together and fight back. A quick phone call meant reinforcements were on the way but the fight wasn't the worst of her problem.

The tech behind her was dead but she didn't need to be a computer expert to understand what was about to happen. In five minutes she was about to lose the single most important thing in her plans.

Turning to the form that was huddled on the ground she frowned. "I need that password, right now," Yumi yelled over the gunfire.

Magdaria didn't say anything, her sobs at the prone form of her brother the only sound she way making.

"God damn it!" Yumi yelled, grabbing a handful of cloth and pulling the girl closer. "The password right NOW!"

But Magdaria didn't respond. Her eyes were locked on her brother. He had done it. He had fulfilled their part of the plan. And she knew that it was almost time to follow him. It wasn't fear that was holding her back, her faith was stronger than that. It was that accursed blond woman who had her pinned by the collar. 

Turning around finally, Magdaria caught Yumi's eye and smiled. Yumi balked a bit and realized all too late what was about to happen. The young nun acted quickly, hoping she would be forgiven for striking another person as her fist connected with Yumi's face.

Yumi's head snapped back, her grip let go and Magdaria stood up quickly, suddenly providing a target for the firing horde. Before either side could issue an order, she went down, hitting the ground hard just as a hatch on the floor opened up.

Kenshin surveyed the area, making sure that the data Misao was getting from the satellites was accurate. This hatch should open up to somewhere that was protected from the bullets but there should be several people here.

He saw them, all on the ground and bleeding. Yumi started to move again and Kenshin pushed out of the hole, moving towards her and delivering a debilitating temple shot. Yumi's eyes fluttered a bit before she fell into unconsciousness.

Kenshin moved from her to the tech on the ground and suddenly saw the computer.

"Misao, there's a computer here next to Yumi… there's a countdown threatening to erase the data."

That's got to be it but… how long is left?

"Three minutes, twenty seconds."

That's… that's too long. Himura, is there anything there with the password, a piece of paper or…

Kenshin started looking around frantically, knowing that time was counting down in more ways then one. The US Army would be here in a minute, the Juppongatana were going to realize that something was wrong with Yumi soon and the data, the cure, would be gone in under three. 

He knew Misao was right. No code-breaking program could work that fast. There had to be another way to…

Kenshin thoughts trailed off as he watched Sano suddenly move quickly behind him. He was sitting at a prone figure, picking her up softly. Kenshin frowned as soon as he realized from the outfit who she was.

"Magdaria," Sano said, shaking the woman softly.

The young woman blinked and looked up at him, a small smile on her lips. 

"Sano! Ask her if she knows the password!" Kenshin yelled over the noise.

Sano looked at her, knowing she had heard the request. But it was obvious in her eyes that she didn't have the strength to talk. Then he saw more in her eyes, all the hopes of what might have been slowly fading away as the last bit of life ebb onto the ground. In that silence, Sano suddenly understood.

"SANO!"

Sano blinked and turned back to Kenshin. The redhead was looking at him, trying to ignore the increasing sound of army helicopters. 

"Irene," Sano said to Kenshin before turning back to Magdaria. "Peace be with you."


	12. Chapter 12

****

Author's note: Well, folks this took a while to get out, I know. I've been spending more time writing code these days. But occasionally, I get to switch from C to English ^_^

As expected, I am not happy with the way things ended in this which means I'll probably do another installment but that'll be it. I'm a big trilogy fan. That's usually all you need and I've read way too many "Part 4" fantasy books that should never have been written.

But I'm holding off on that for the moment so I can finish my other story. My time is very limited these days and I can't do two stories at once anymore.

Thanks to all my reviewers. You guys always make my day. And the better part is I'm reading good stuff that you've either written yourselves or recommended.

**__**

Chapter 12

The cloudless sky was mirrored in her eyes as she spun around, letting laughter escape her lips as she drank in the sun. Her feet twisted over each other in her solo dance until dizziness finally set in and she sank to the ground with a smile. A second passed before she felt the strong hand wrap around her arm. Looking up, her smile deepened at the look he was giving her.

"Gomen nasai," Misao said happily. "I was just having some fun."

"And you overdid it," he chided. "You know the doctors said you need to rest the next few days."

Misao nodded and watched as Megumi walked over to them. The young doctor shook her head and turned to Aoshi. "I thought I told you to make sure she didn't do anything silly."

"It wasn't his fault," Misao broke in. "I just… got excited to be outside again."

Megumi sighed and shook her head. "I'm going to go get the car. Wait here." The soft clicking of her heels slowly faded towards the parking lot. 

Aoshi carefully lifted Misao up so she was on her two feet. She looked at her scrunching her face unhappily.

"What?" Aoshi asked.

"I know what comes next."

"What?"

Misao sighed. "The lecture. You know 'Misao you need to stop being so irresponsible', things like that."

"Aa."

"I mean you only said like twenty times we were going to talk when I go back."

"Aa."

"…" Misao pouted and looked up at him. "So talk already!"

"Misao…You need to stop being so irresponsible…"

Misao rolled her eyes and sighed. It was the same old story every single time. She didn't know why she put up with it! She wasn't five years old! It was so infuriating, so annoying, so… so…

Misao blinked several times as she felt his arms encircle her. The color rushed to her face as she was drawn close into his chest. And the anger, more like any coherent thought, completely melted into the puddle of goo that was once her knees.

"…because I don't know what would happen if something…"

He trailed off and Misao smiled. Well, Aoshi was never one for words and she wasn't about to push him. Figures, though, it would take her being near to death to get him to budge from his ice-like approach on life.

Megumi watched the scene and let out a sigh, letting her hand drop from the horn. Well, she could wait a bit longer.

***

"How did you know?"

Sano blinked and looked up at the man lying in the bed. He turned the disc in his hand and tried to think of the best way to answer. He took in a deep breath and leaned back in the chair. 

"I just knew it," Sano finally said.

Shougo turned his head and caught Sano's eye. "How?" he repeated.

The ex-gangster's head dropped a bit. "She told me once. Not that it was the password but…" He took in a deep breath. 

Shougo smiled a bit. "She wanted to name her daughter that when she was younger."

"Yeah," Sano replied.

The smile faded. "It makes sense, you know, to protect the data with that name. The information on it would have given her the chance to…" Shougo fell silent and the room was once again filled with the short beeps and whistles of the machines around him.

"I'm sorry," Sano said softly, letting his voice break the silence.

Shougo sighed. "My sister was determined to follow her life as she saw fit. Her decision to enter the order, her agreement with our plans concerning the Juppongatana… she was never one to make a decision and waver from it."

"I saw that too."

"Even when I told her that I had the cure… she didn't want it until I was sure that the virus couldn't be used for evil. I failed her in that."

Sano was silent. He didn't want to agree with the already disheartened man but… there was one dead soldier that was testament to the fact that Shougo was right. Still this was not about laying blame. Sano had come here to simply settle things and then try to move on.

"Maybe," Sano finally settled on. "But you have the chance to make it up to her." 

He held up the disk and Shougo's glance fell on it. His eyes closed slightly at the sight of the disc that had caused so much trouble. He shook his head.

"Destroy it," Shougo said. "The virus is gone but if someone gets their hand on that disc, they can make it again."

Sano turned the disc around. "But then… you'll lose the cure as well."

"What does it matter?"

Sano sighed and tossed the disc on Shougo's stomach as he stood up. "You do it then. I've had enough mindless destruction for one day." Shoujo turned away, muttering under his breath. "What did you say?" Sano asked, catching only the tail end of the other man's tirade.

"I said what would you know."

"Well," Sano started, "I know that destroying that disc is not the right thing to do. Sometimes, even if you know there is a chance that something could be dangerous, you still have to go for it, especially if the benefits can outweigh the evil."

Shougo's eyebrows furrowed as he let the words work their way through his mind.

"And," Sano continued, "I know that Magdaria wouldn't agree to destroying it. She was always so concerned about everyone else. What would she say if she knew you were going to throw away something that could help people just because of her?"

Sano waited, watching the other man's face before turning towards the door.

"Sagara." Sano turned around and looked over his shoulder. "Put it on the table."

Sano nodded and took the disc, dropping it safely on the table next to Shougo's bed. He waited a beat longer before understanding that there was nothing left to be said between the two of them.

He quickly retreated out into the hospital's hall and made his way to the exit. Well, that had gone better then he expected. Sano was not one for emotional outbursts but when Magdaria had died in his arms, he couldn't lie to himself and tell him that it was going to be okay. 

He hadn't known her that long but he knew her type, the type that gives all she can to the world and never expects a bit of reward for it. It made him think of Kaoru and Kenshin. Those two went out their way to help others. 

But there was more, something he couldn't bear to face himself. How did he know the password was Irene? Sure Shougo had seen the logic behind it but Sano hadn't had much time to think about it. He had just looked in her eyes and seen the same fierce determination and strong faith that she always showed him when they had met.

Only this time there was something else. A bit of sadness, as if she was almost a little reluctant to give up her life because of something. Sano knew what that was. She had missed her chance to fulfill a dream.

And he knew what that felt like. It had haunted him since the day everyone in his gang had been killed in front of his eyes. He may survived the attack, but… he hadn't really done much since then. Maybe he had been afraid that someday he would end up like Magdaria or like his comraes, dying in the street and regretting things that were unfinished. It had seemed better to just not start anything at all, no regrets at the end, ne?

But then he had met Kaoru and she kept pushing him around. Forcing him to get a job… even joining the academy. He had been a bit resentful at the time… but maybe she had been right. Maybe he did need something like that to do with his life.

Sano sighed. Too much introspective thinking. He needed something to drink.

***

Megumi sighed as she watched Sano approach them with several paper bags. He gave her a winning smile and walked up to her and the other two.

"So, I see they finally let you out of your cage," Sano nodded to Misao.

The younger girl scowled a bit before she smiled. "Good to see you too. What's in the bags?"

"Ah… just a bit of things for a makeshift party," Sano grinned. "I figured we needed to celebrate your return."

"As if you ever needed a reason to drink," Megumi said.

"Ouch, that hurt, fox."

"Don't call me fox, rooster head."

"Oh look," Misao interrupted, "the elevator's here."

The foursome walked into the elevator in relative silence and waited as it made its slow ascent to their floor. 

"So where are Kaoru and Kenshin?" Misao asked.

"They stayed behind," Aoshi replied evenly. 

"Good!" Misao smiled. "I can't wait to see them too."

The elevator doors opened and the group walked out, heading towards the closed doors of the suite. Megumi pulled out her card and was about to unlock the door when she heard some laughter inside. She hesitated just long enough to hear the voices from inside.

"You're sure you're okay with this?"

"Yeah… I mean, I've never done it before, but how hard can it be?"

Megumi quickly let her hand drop and pressed an ear to the door. The first voice was obviously Kenshin, the second was definitely Kaoru. What were they talking about? It took only a second before Misao and Sano were next to her, eavesdropping as well. 

"What's going on?" Aoshi asked.

The trio hushed him before returning to their listening.

"Are you sure you're comfortable?" Kenshin's voice sang out.

"Hang on, let me just switch… ah, that's better. I've got a better view now anyway," Kaoru replied. There was a laugh as Kenshin responded to her. Misao and Megumi's cheeks turned a bit pink, Sano's face broke out into a grin and Aoshi's eyebrow started to twitch.

"Just let me know if there's anything I should do."

"Mou, Kenshin, I think I can figure things out."

"It's just, I've done this a lot before."

Sano's smile increased. Misao and Megumi shot him a look and he shook his head. Meanwhile, they had all failed to notice Aoshi's icy façade slowly melting behind them.

"OW!" 

"Are you all right Kaoru-dono?"

"Yeah… I mean it hurts but it's just a little prick."

"Just suck on it, that'll help," Kenshin replied quickly.

The door to the suite came down with a large bang. Aoshi slowly lowered his foot from the kick and the three eavesdroppers looked a bit stunned still crouched down and leaning against their now non-existent perch.

Kenshin looked up from staring down at Kaoru as he stood on the chair. Kaoru turned from her kneeling position and glanced over, her finger in her mouth, the offending needle in the other hand with a thread still attached to the hem of his pants.

"Nani?" she said watching Aoshi's expression.

Kenshin, meanwhile, was a bit quicker on the draw and made the connection fast. "Wait… no… it isn't what you think…"

Aoshi's breath was a bit haggard as he faced the redhead and pointed a finger at him. Kenshin quickly retreated, forgetting he was on top of chair and stumbled backwards, landing on the sofa behind him before pitching over it and hitting the floor with a resounding thud.

"Orororororo…."

A/N : Uh huh… and just what were you thinking, eh??

***

Misao burst out laughing again, ignoring the unhappy faces that looked at her. Things had settled a bit and they had spread themselves out among the furniture. Kenshin held a bag of ice on top of his head, Kaoru was intensely interested in the floor and Aoshi was frowning as deeply as possible. Misao didn't mind, she had Sano and Megumi laughing along with her.

"Okay, okay," Sano said suddenly regaining a bit of composure. "I've got something to fix all of this." He reached down to the paper bags and pulled out several bottles depositing them on the coffee table. There was a collective hiss as the group took in what Sano had just shown them.

"Nani?" Misao asked, the only one not effected. "What's the problem? It's just tequila."

"That is the problem," Megumi frowned. 

"Oh come on," Sano said. "Don't tell me you're one of those!"

"One of which?" Misao pressed, thoroughly confused.

"Those people who swore off tequila," Sano responded. Before Misao could answer, Kaoru suddenly perked up.

"It's just that… well, everyone usually has a bad tequila story," she said. "It's always the same. A bottle of tequila to start and the next morning, the bottle is empty, the worm is gone and you're swearing the stuff off for the rest of your life."

Misao's eyes opened wide. "Really?" she turned to Aoshi. "Even you?"

Megumi and Kaoru giggled but Aoshi shot them a glance. "Let's just say, it involved a pig's head, a hula skirt and karaoke machine… OHOHOHOHO," Megumi finished, little fox ears popping out of her head. Kaoru started laughing as well.

"As I recall," Aoshi said evenly looking at Megumi. "There was a certain recently graduated intern who had the desire to see all of Tokyo from the highest point of Tokyo Tower, even if she had to climb there in high heels" Kaoru erupted into happy giggles. "And her friend who thought to cheer her own by singing "We are the Champions" at the top of her lungs while using her shirt as a pompom."

While Megumi and Kaoru blushed several shades of red while the others laughed at their discomfort. "What are you laughing at?" Megumi shot at Sano. "Don't tell me that you have never…"

"Oh, several times," Sano smiled. "I just wake up naked somewhere and figure whatever the hell happened, it must have been good." Megumi clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and rolled her eyes.

"Ne, what about you Kenshin?" Kaoru asked, shooting a glance at the red head.

Kenshin shifted and shook his head uncomfortably until the chiding of the group got to him. "It was in high school… we won the national soccer match and well… let's just say I woke up the next morning tangled up in the goal net."

That earned a good round of laughs from people but it was Kaoru's smile that caught his attention the most. Who could blame her? It was the first time she had really gotten a glimpse of his past. Albeit an embarrassing one, but it was enough for her to hear a bit of his childhood.

"All right!" Misao cried reaching over and opening a bottle. "I don't have a bad tequila story so let's get this going and see what I do." Aoshi attempted to protest but by then, the rest of the group was giving a resounding agreement.

***

Several hours passed and the group had already dwindled down to four. Kaoru and Kenshin sat on the sofa, watching the scene play out with happy, drunken smiles. Poor Sano… Kaoru thought. He didn't know what he was in for. 

"Not a chance in hell," Megumi replied.

"But why not?" Sano said, trying to muster up his puppy dog eyes.

"I know your type," Megumi continued, her hand waving the tequila bottle in the air. "Take 'em out, liquor 'em up, and get 'em to bed."

"You're pretty liquored up now," Sano laughed.

"Right and I have no inten… itination… screw it, it just ain't happening," Megumi finished, taking a swig of the bottle.

Sano huffed. "Feh, you don't know what you're missing!"

"I think I do," Megumi replied.

"Yeah? How?"

"I was your doctor, moron," Megumi said.

Sano was preparing a retort but it died quickly on his lips. He started to turn a shade of pink before he heard Megumi's trademark laugh fill the air.

"Got you," she smiled.

Sano quickly turned his embarrassed look into an indignant look. "That wasn't funny! I got my pride, you know!"

"That all you got," Megumi replied.

"Oi! I resent that. For that, now you HAVE to go out with me."

"Not a chance in hell."

"Why not?"

Kaoru sighed and shook her head. "Well, this should go on for the rest of the night," she said to Kenshin.

"Aa," he replied, watching his friend get made fun of by the doctor again. "Stubborn."

"Which one?" Kaoru asked.

"Both," he smiled.

Kaoru laughed until a yawn quickly replaced it. She frowned and looked at the bottle before putting it down on the table. "Better stop or I'll just fall asleep. Wouldn't want to miss the rest of this show," she said, motioning to the two.

"Aa." Kenshin replied.

"Ne, Kenshin?" The redhead turned to Kaoru, watching as her eyes, mostly black at this point, looked at him. He frowned with concern at her unhappy look before she suddenly broke out into a smile. "Arigato."

"For what?" he asked.

She turned away and closed her eyes, leaning back into the pillows. "For telling us your tequila story. You never talk about your past. I know some of it was bad, but none of us care. It's nice to hear stories like the one you told." Kenshin's lips turned into a smile. "You should tell us, me, more things like that. You don't have to lie or pretend. Just be truthful."

"Truthful?"

"Hai," she said softly, her breathing becoming very steady.

"Kaoru… you are very beautiful."

There was no response. Kenshin looked over and wondered if she had fallen asleep. But apparently not yet, because when he strained his ears, he could barely make out her last words.

"Baka, tell me that when you're not drunk."

Kenshin smiled, watching as Kaoru fell asleep. It was true, he had said it because the alcohol was floating around his head. Mainly because he was afraid of how she would react if she told him that sober. But now, her response had been… well, encouraging.

Kaoru slowly shifted and tried to curl up into a ball on the couch. Her head fell onto his shoulder and he gently moved his arm around her shoulder and let her move a bit closer. He wanted to enjoy this moment for as long as possible. But the sight of her and the sounds of Sano and Megumi slowly faded away as he fell asleep.

***

Megumi woke up the next morning and the first thing she thought was that she was never, ever drinking that much tequila again. She didn't even remember what happened after arguing with Sano in the living room. She sat up in the bed and noticed that it wasn't her bedroom but the guys.

She looked around, realizing she was the only one in the bed. There was suddenly a large sound next to her and she jumped. Cautiously, she peered over the edge of the bed and quickly backed up at the sight on the floor.

Oh no… that wasn't… it couldn't… she was still drunk. Very VERY drunk. 

Taking in a deep breath she slowly looked over and was greeted with the same sight. A very happy looking Sano, lying under the floor barely covered by a sheet from the bed. 

Megumi quickly reeled back and tried to get a hold on herself. She patted herself down, looking and making sure that all her clothes were in the exact same state they were in the night before. They were but… there was something else that caught her eye.

Holding her hand up, she examined the object and felt the color drain from her face. Looking over the edge of the bed, she examined the sleeping form beside her. 

A second later she started to scream.

Aoshi burst through the other bedroom door, wearing only a pair of black pajama pants and holding his gun tightly as he ran across the suite to the other room. So intent on seeing what had happened with Megumi, he completely missed the scene in the living room.

Which was very fortunate for Kenshin as he opened his eyes at the sound and was greeted with a very content looking Kaoru sleeping on his chest. Her eyes blinked open and she looked up, blue catching violet. She was about to unleash a powerful blush on her cheeks when she heard the screaming again. 

They quickly got up and headed towards the running, almost colliding with a sleepy looking Misao who was paddling out of the bedroom with a black night shirt on.

"What's going on?" she asked pushing some hair out of her face.

"I don't know," Kaoru said quickly, following Aoshi into the room. Before Misao could enter, Kaoru suddenly came barreling out, a deep flush on her face.

"What's…" Misao started.

"NOTHING!" Kaoru yelled.

"OI! Don't look at me like that Kenshin!" Sano's voice boomed out. "How the hell was I supposed to know I wasn't wearing anything."

Sano stood up, wrapping the blanket around himself and shook the last bit of sleepiness from his head. "What the hell is all the yelling for?"

Megumi, knowing that it was safe to turn around again, quickly grabbed a pillow and headed towards him, bashing him repeatedly on the head.

"YOU!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!!"

Sano held up a hand to block the assault. "OI! Stop that! What the hell are you… Eh? What's this?"

He paused and looked at his hand, looking at the gold band on his finger. His mind slowly caught up and he looked up at Megumi. She held out her hand to show the matching one.

And then Sano, once the toughest street fighter in Tokyo, did something he had never done before. He fainted.

***

Megumi's eyes shot around the table, waiting for the next person to make a mistake. Everyone stared down at their food, trying to push the breakfast into their mouths to prevent themselves from making a noise. It worked for a while but as soon as the dishes were cleaned, the snickering started. Megumi's temper slowly started to rise and she watched for the first one to…

Misao lost it. She had been trying to keep it in. But the moment she saw Aoshi crack a small smile, she knew it was over. If he was trying not to laugh, she didn't stand a chance.

"It's NOT FUNNY!" Megumi yelled.

"Shhh…" Kaoru said, holding her friend by the shoulder, and looking around the airport terminal as people turned to stare.

"Well, its not," Megumi repeated harshly.

"Yes it is," Kaoru snickered. Megumi shot her a glance but Kaoru rolled her eyes. "Come on, it's probably not even legal. You guys are both Japanese citizens, this is the US."

Megumi continued to glower. She cast over a glance at Sano who was several tables away, exiled from the group until she thought of a proper punishment. Right now, though, he seemed very content to just stare into the Styrofoam coffee mug in front of him.

Flight 445 to Tokyo, now boarding.

"That's us," Kenshin said standing up and breaking the silence. 

"Are you sure you guys can't get out of it?" Kaoru asked, looking at Aoshi and Misao.

"No chance," Misao replied with a shrug. "Okina said we had to take this job."

"You'd think he'd give you a break or something," Kaoru added.

"It'll be okay," Misao smiled.

They traded good-byes and disappeared into the terminal, leaving just Misao and Aoshi behind. Misao smiled and turned to Aoshi.

"So… you're sure about lying to them?" she asked.

Aoshi shook his head firmly. "Look what they did to Megumi's vacation. I haven't had one in years and they are not about to ruin it."

Flight 671 to Honolulu, now boarding.

Misao smiled and stood up, grabbing his hand. "Come on, then! That's us!"

Aoshi let himself be pulled along until they reached the gate. Misao stopped and turned around, facing him with a smile.

"Ne, Aoshi?" she said, looking up at him with pleading eyes. Aoshi knew this was dangerous but he nodded anyway. "I just wanted to ask… you know… there's something I wanted to ask you to do…"

He paused, weighed the options and finally relented. Misao's face broke into a big smile.

***

"…so after the ball hit the post, it was a free-for-all. Everyone went after it. All I remember is it getting to my feet and then…"

"You kicked it and won the game?" Kaoru asked, watching him.

Kenshin looked at her with a slight blush. "Actually, one of the other team took my legs out and hit the ground very hard."

Kaoru laughed and playfully landed a hand on his upper arm. "Poor thing, must have been very embarrassing."

"Aa," he said with a smile, noticing she sliding her hand down to meet his. 

It had started slowly at first. Megumi was busy at the university and Sano was studying hard at the academy. It only made sense that the two of them go out for the occasional dinner and movie together. 

But after awhile, it became they weren't just doing it because there was no one else around. So the occasional handholding had meandered its way into their evening. It was slow but neither seemed to mind. Kaoru was enjoying hearing stories of his youth, Kenshin was learning about hers as well.

They eventually reached their shared house and Kaoru went for the mailbox. She shuffled through the bills before she came across a handwritten postcard.

"Hey! It's from Misao," she said reading the card. Kenshin looked over her shoulder and read it as well.

__

Hey guys,

So… ummm, we didn't have a mission. We kind of went on vacation. Just relaxing on the beaches of Hawaii. It's been real nice but we're headed back to work now. Before, though, I figured that I owed you something for all the help in Vegas. So that's why I sent the card.

Misao ^_^

"That was sweet," Kaoru said, turning the card over. Kenshin nodded and was about to say more before he saw the picture on the front.

Misao was there, wearing a pareo and smiling brightly as she attended what looked like a luau. But that wasn't what had stopped them in their tracks. It was Aoshi's part in the picture. He was wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt, standing in front of the pig from the banquet, wearing a hula skirt.


End file.
